NATIVE AMERICANS 7 From Conquest to Tribal Survival in a Postindustrial Society

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1838 1876 Approximately 17,000copy, Cherokee are forcibly removed Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse from North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and (Lakota) defeat George to the , present-day , along Custer at the Battle of the the 1,200-mile “.” Some 4,000 to 8,000 Little Bighorn. Cherokeenot die during the removal process.

1830 1845 1860 1875 1890 1905 1920

Do 1887 1830 1871 The allows government to The Act The Indian divide Indian land into individually 1890 leads to the deportation of Appropriations Act of About 300 Sioux are owned parcels in an attempt to 100,000 Native Americans 1871 dissolves the killed at Wounded Knee 1886 establish private ownership of Indian to west of the . status of tribes as leader in last battle between lands. sovereign nations. Geronimo surrenders U.S. troops and Native 1851 to U.S. troops. Americans. The Indian Appropriations Act 1862 of 1851 allocates funds to move The Homestead

tribes onto reservations. Act essentially LOC allows Americans to settle on Indian land. LOC

LOC Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. Wikimedia Commons This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Lorinda announced that the [Blessing By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the following: Way ceremony for Lynette’s unborn 7.1 Explain the changing population characteristics and common child] was about to start . . . [so cultural characteristics of Native Americans and Alaska Natives. we] walked into the hoghan. A 7.2 Summarize and explain the changing relationship between Native single light bulb lit the room dimly. Americans and the U.S. federal government, especially the changes in laws and policies and their effects, and the dynamics of Indian Couches, futon mattresses, and large resistance and protest. pillows were set against the walls 7.3 Understand the most critical issues and trends that have influenced for the night’s sing. A coffee-maker, relations between Native Americans and the larger U.S. society in microwave, and crock-pot sat on a recent decades, including folding table against the northern a. struggles over natural resources, b. attempts to bring jobs to reservations, wall for the midnight eating. This c. broken treaties, was the same adaptation I’d d. gaming, and grown up seeing, the age-old ritual e. prejudice and discrimination. with modern technology. 7.4 Analyze the contemporary relations between Native Americans and The hataałii [shaman or healer] sat whites using the concepts of prejudice, discrimination, assimilation, and pluralism, especially in terms of against the western wall. . . . He a. acculturation, wore thick silver bracelets and a distribute b. secondary structural assimilation, and silk bandana across his brow, the c. primary structural assimilation. knot tied off at his right temple 7.5 Assess the overall situationor of Native Americans today based on the in traditional style. A basket of concepts and information presented in this chapter. tádídíín[corn pollen] sat at his left. post, Wikipedia

1924 1968 1988 Federal law grants The American Indian Federal legislation legalizes all Native Americans copy,Movement, an advocacy reservation gambling. 2005 citizenship. group, is founded. The National Collegiate Athletic Association bans use of “hostile and abusive” American Indian mascots in not postseason tournaments.

1935 1950 1965 1980 1995 2010 2020 Do 1978 2012 The Revenue 2016–2017 1934 1972 Thousands protest leads the Longest Walk, a from The Indian Reorganization The American Indian the Dakota Access spiritual walk across the country gaming on Act decreases federal Movement sponsors the Pipeline. for tribal sovereignty and to reservations control of Indian affairs Trail of Broken Treaties, protest anti-Indian legislation. reaches a cross-country protest and re-establishes self- almost $28 presenting a 20-point governance for many billion. tribes. list of demands from the federal government. Getty LOC LOC Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. [There were] gifts: . . . a stethoscope, that the baby would diverse Indian1 nations fought to preserve their cultures and have good health and might be a healer; . . . a pair of to keep their land (see Chapter 4 for a review). The tribes running shoes, that the child would be a strong runner; had enough power to win many battles, but they eventually lost all of the wars. Nichols (1986, p. 128) suggests that the dollar bills . . . to wish the child a wealthy life; cowboy diversity of Native communities (including 250 different boots and work gloves so that the child would be a hard languages) contributed to the challenges of fighting whites worker. . . . (Regan, 2018, p. 239). The superior resources of the bur- geoning white society made the eventual defeat of Native The hataałii spoke in quiet Navajo as he passed the basket Americans almost inescapable (Diamond, 1998). of tádídíín to Dennis, who sprinkled the yellow pollen at By 1890, the last of the tribes had been conquered, each corner of the hoghan, first East, South, West, then their leaders had been killed or were in custody, and their North. Then he passed the basket around the room in a people were living on U.S. government-controlled reser- clockwise order; when it came to me, I did what the others vations. By the start of the 20th century, Native Americans had done: I placed a pinch inside my lower lip, pressed a were, in Blauner’s (1972) terms, a conquered and colonized second pinch to my forehead, then spread the pollen in minority group. Like African Americans on slave planta- tions, Native people living on reservations were subjected the air above in a small arch to resemble the rainbow that to live, by law, under a paternalistic system controlled by promises life and beauty. federally mandated regulations. Because the reservation The hataałii began the sing. Brandon and the two system destroyed tribal governments, most lived under the supervision of U.S. appointed Indian agents who tempo- burly men entered the chant with accenting rhythms rarily lived on the reservations and who supervised their as articulate as wind chimes, but with the resonance of acculturation into U.S. society in detail, for example, by distant thunder. . . . governing everything includingdistribute hair length, clothing, and Lorinda leaned forward and rocked slowly, speaking her language (Nichols, 1986, p. 135). For almost 150 years, as Jim Crow segregation, Supreme Court decisions, indus- own prayer: I heard the word hózhó sung many times. or trialization, and urbanization shaped the status of other There is no English equivalent, but mostly it means minority groups, Native Americans lived on the fringes of “beautiful harmony.” Christians might call it grace. development and change and had weaker links to the larger —Jim Kristofic (2011, pp. 183–184) society than white ethnic groups and other minority groups. Thus, they were marginalized, relatively powerless, and iso- At the end of first grade, Jim Kristofic found himself latedpost, geographically and culturally. While other minority moving from western Pennsylvania to the Navajo groups have maintained a regular presence in the national reservation in where his mother had taken headlines, Native Americans have been generally ignored and unnoticed, except perhaps as mascots for sports teams a job as a nurse. Like many Americans, he had (e.g., Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves) or because of little information about indigenous people before recent protests at the Standing Rock Reservation about the getting to know them. As the new boy incopy, school Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). he was initially rejected and bullied by the Navajo The last decades of the 20th century witnessed some kids. Eventually, he developed a deep respect for improvement in the status of Native Americans in general, and understanding of the “Rez,” the people, and not 1 the Navajo way of life. In the previous passage, he Columbus used the term Indian because he thought he had landed gives us a glimpse into a sacred Navajo ceremony in India. We use the term Native American—rather than American Indian—to emphasize that such people are indigenous to the area that called the Blessing Way that has been practiced for Do became the of America. The term Native American centuries. Can ancient traditions such as this—and also applies to other indigenous peoples of the United States (e.g., the indigenous people that practice them—survive in in Alaska) as well as Canada and Central and South America. We the modern world? • focus on people indigenous to the U.S. mainland because their expe- riences most closely parallel the other mainland groups discussed in this book. Likewise, people debate the language of tribes, nations, or communities. Different indigenous people use different terms. As with In Chapter 4, we discussed the contact period for Native other racial and ethnic groups, these labels highlight their socially Americans, which began in the earliest colonial days and constructed nature. We encourage you to learn more and decide lasted nearly 300 years. It ended with the final battles of the what seems most accurate and respectful. In “real life,” it’s best to ask Indian Wars in the late 1800s. During that time, the many, people what they like to be called instead of assuming.

226 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. ethnic groups, the Census Bureau’s categories for Native Americans have changed over time. As you recall from Chapter 1, the first time peo- ple could claim membership in more than one racial or ethnic category on the census was in 2000. If we define Native Americans as consist- ing of people who identify themselves as only Native American, we will get one estimate. If we include people who claim mixed racial ancestry our estimate of group size will be much larger.

Kicking Bear /Wikimedia Commons Table 7.1, based on the most recent (2010) U.S. Painting of the Battle of the Little Bighorn by Kicking Bear, a Native American healer Census, shows this difference in size. who was born Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He became a subchief among the Minneconjou Sioux during the period known as the Sioux Wars (1854–1890).

TABLE 7.1 Native Americans and Alaska and some tribes, especially those with casinos and other Native Population, 2010 gaming establishments, made notable progress toward parity with national standards (Spilde & Taylor, 2013; Taylor & Kalt, 2005). Also, the tribes now have more con- ALONE OR IN COMBINATION trol over their own affairs, and many have effectively used (2 OR MORE their increased autonomy and independence to address ALONE GROUPS) problems in education, health, joblessness, and other All Native Americansdistribute 2,932,248 5,220,579 matters. Despite the progress, large gaps remain between & Alaska Natives Native Americans and other groups, especially whites, in virtually every area of social and economic life. For exam- Nativeor Americans 2,042,825 3,831,740 ple, some Native Americans living on reservations are Alaska Natives 113,902 162,504 among the poorest groups in U.S. society. 10 LARGEST TRIBAL In this chapter, we will discuss the history of Native GROUPINGS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS Americans up to the present and explore recent progress and Two or More persisting problems. Some of the questions we will discuss One Tribe Tribes include: How does the situation of Native Americanspost, com- pare with that of other colonized and conquered minority Cherokee 284,247 819,858 groups? What accounts for the inequalities this group has Navajo 286,731 332,129 faced for much of the past century? How can we explain Choctaw 103,910 195,764 improvements, especially since the 1990s? What key prob- lems remain? What strategiescopy, could close the remaining Chippewa 112,757 170,742 gaps between Native Americans and the larger society? Sioux 112,176 170,110

Apache 63,193 118,810 SIZE OFnot THE GROUP Blackfeet 27,279 105,304 72,270 91,242 How many Native Americans live in the United States? Creek 48,352 88,332 This question has several answers, partly because of the socialDo and subjective nature of race and group membership. Iroquois 40,570 81,002 Historically and today, the U.S. government and individual Largest Tribal Groupings for Alaska Natives tribes have defined the status of “Indian” in different ways. Yup’ik 27,329 33,868 Sometimes those definitions have been based on specific percentages of “Indian blood” (Cohen, 1945, p. 5). At other Inupiat 20,941 25,687 times, they have defined Indian status broadly, even includ- Tlingit-Haida 8,547 13,486 ing individuals who joined tribal communities through Alaskan Athabascan 12, 318 16,665 marriage (Nichols, 1986, p. 128). The answer also varies because of the way the Census Bureau collects information. As with other racial and SOURCE: Norris, Vines, and Hoeffel (2012).

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 227 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. If you look at the top row of Table 7.1, you’ll see NATIVE AMERICAN that more than five million people claimed at leastsome Native American or Alaska Native ancestry; if we define CULTURES the group as people who select only Native American, the group is a little more than half that size. By either count, The dynamics between Native Americans and Anglo- Native Americans are a small minority—about 1.6%—of Americans have been shaped by the vast differences in cul- the U.S. population. Table 7.1 presents information for ture between the two groups (e.g., beliefs, values, norms, the 10 largest tribal groupings of Native Americans and language). These differences have hampered commu- for the four largest tribal groupings of Alaska Natives but nication in the past and continue to do so in the present. these categories only hint at the diversity of the group. Although we’re discussing Native Americans as a group, as We present them as separate groups because their vastly we noted in Chapter 4, there were (and are) almost 600 dif- different geographical locations shaped the contact sit- ferent tribes, each with its own heritage, social structure, and uation and, therefore, their group histories and also geography (National Congress of American Indians, n.d.; because tribal affiliation continues to matter to many Regan, 2018). A comprehensive analysis of Native American members of this group (National Congress of American cultures that takes such diversity into account is beyond the Indians, n.d.). scope of this text. However, as Regan (2018) notes, we can As you’ll see in Figure 7.1, the Native American pop- identify some common cultural characteristics. ulation has grown rapidly over the past several decades, but this fact needs to be seen in the full context of his- AGRICULTURE, VIEWS tory. As you learned in Chapter 4, in 1492, there were ON NATURE, AND anywhere from several million to more than 10 million LAND OWNERSHIP or more Native Americans living in what is now the con- tinental (“Lower 48”) United States (Mann, 2011). By Before exploring the contentdistribute of their culture, recall 1900, fewer than 250,000 American Indians remained Lenski’s arguments about how subsistence technology due to deaths during the contact period—from disease, profoundly shapes orsocieties (see Chapter 1). Most Native battles, and starvation due to loss of land and, therefore, American tribes that existed in what is now the U.S. the ability to hunt animals and gather plants, and nuts, relied on hunting, fishing, and gathering to satisfy their and other resources. basic needs. As the text box on page 229 shows, many also Recent population growth is largely the result of cultivated gardens rich with squash, corn, beans, sun- changing definitions of race in the larger society and peo- flower (for the oil-rich seeds), goosefoot (a starch), and ple’s greater willingness to claim Indian ancestry (Wilson, otherpost, plants (George-Kanentiio, 2000; Nabhan, 2002; 2000). This pattern also underscores the social character Nash & Strobel, 2006; Nelson, 2008; Park, Hongub, & of race. Daily, 2016; Wessell, 1986).

FIGURE 7.1 Native American andcopy, Alaska Native Population, 1900–2015 6,000,000 5,000,000 not 4,000,000 3,000,000Do 2,000,000

1,000,000

0 0 19001905191019151920192519301935194 194519501955196019651970197519801985199019952000200520102015

SOURCES: For data for 1900 to 1990, Thornton (2001, p. 142); 2000 and 2010, U.S. Census Bureau (2007, p. 14; 2010) and Norris et al. (2012), 2015 U.S. Census Bureau, 2015.

228 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. Below, William Strachey describes his increase exceedingly, and ripen in most of acrons [acorns], walnutts, travels to Virginia (in the English of the the beginning of July, and contynue chesnutts, chechinquarnins [a form early 1600s) his travels to Virginia, until September; they plant also the of wild grain], and fish; but, to mend including what Native Americans grew field apple, the maracock, a wyld fruit their dyett, some disperse themselves and ate each season and how food like a kind of pomegranette, which in small companeys, and live upon availability (or lack thereof) affected increaseth infinitelye, and ripens in such beasts as they can kyll with their people. It illustrates the precarious- August, contynuing untill the end of bows and arrows, upon crabbs, oysters, ness of the food supply: When food was October, when all the other fruicts be land-tortoyses, strawberryes, mulber- plentiful people were fat and strong, gathered, but they sowe nether herb, ries, and such like. In June, July, and but when food was scarce they would flower, nor any other kynd of fruit. August they feed upon the roots of become lean and weak. They neither ympale for deare, nor tockohow [tuckahoe, or the arrow arum breed cattlle, nor bring up tame poultry, plant that grows in wetlands], berries, About their howses they have com- albeit they have great stoore of turkies, grownd nutts, fish, and greene wheate monly square plotts of cleered nor keepe birds, squirrells, nor tame [corn], and sometyme uppon a greene grownd, which serve them for gardens, patridges, swan, duck, nor goose. In serpent, or greene snake, of which our some one hundred, some two hundred March and April they live much upon people likewise use to eate. foote square, wherein they sowe their their weeres [traps used to catch fish] It is strange to see how their bod- tobacco, pumpons [pumpkins], and a and feed on fish, turkies, and squir- ies alter with their dyett; even as the fruit like unto a musk million, but less rells; and then, as also sometymes in deare and wild beasts they seem fatt and worse, which they call macock May, they plant their fields annd sett and leane, strong and weake (Strachey gourds, and such like, which fruets their corn, and live after those months & Major, 1849, pp. 72–73). distribute Indeed, in 1607 when the colonists arrived in Virginia, (Smith, 2013, p. xv). Nevertheless, the food supply was their survival was due, in part, to Native Americans’ unreliable and Native Americans (like colonists) often lived crops and seeds as well as their willingness to share their on theor edge of hunger and want. knowledge about how to cultivate crops in the new world As is typical at the hunting-and-gathering level of development, Native American societies tended to be more oriented toward groups (e.g., the extended family, clan, or tribe) than toward individuals. Such communities stress values of sharing and cooperation which enable them to post,maintain strong bonds of cohesion and solidarity. In such communities, people subordinate self-interests to those of the group (Regan, 2018). One important difference between Native Americans and European settlers involved their ideas about the rela- tionship between human beings and the natural world. In copy, the traditional Native American cultures, the universe is a unity. Humans are simply a part of a larger reality, no differ- ent from or more important than other animals, plants, trees, and the earth itself. Because the natural world is connected to not the spiritual world, the goal of many Native American tribes was to live in harmony with nature (Regan, 2018, p. 240). This framework influenced Native American beliefs Do about property which differed from European thinking. Contrary to popular stereotypes, Native Americans did own personal possessions. For example, Lakota men owned their horses, clothing, weapons, and spiritual objects. Indigenous women of Alaska marked their stored fish to show its own- ership. Because many indigenous women were responsible for the tipis, they were considered their property. And, the

Edward S. Curtis / Wikimedia Commons Great Law of the Iroquois stated, “women shall be con-

Hupa man with spear, 1923. sidered the Progenitors of the Nation. They shall own the land and soil” (cited from Andersen, 2016, p. 37).

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 229 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. GENDER AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Egalitarianism, respect, and the worth of every person were other important values that organized many tra- ditional Native American communities. Virtually all tribes had a division of labor based on gender, and often by age, and they valued work regardless of who did it. For example, Choctaw men and women both did food- related work: Men hunted for food and women supervised food production and distribution (Andersen, 2016). The gendered division of labor in many tribes was flexible, allowing people to do what fit with their gender identity and skills. For example, among the Yuma (or ), a woman who had a dream about fighting could take on the role of a warrior and fight alongside the men of her tribe (Allen, 1992; Andersen, 2016, p. 35). Women in many indigenous communities occupied important economic, political, and religious positions, and had much greater freedom than colonial women (who the law defined as dependents) (Anderson, 2016; George- Kanentiio, 2006; Hartman, n.d.). Among the Iroquois, a

Laton Alton Huffman / Wikimedia Commons council of older women appointeddistribute the tribe’s chiefs, had Pretty Nose, an Arapaho war chief, sometimes referred to as Cheyenne. veto power over their decisions, and made decisions about She fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Photographed at Fort when to wage war (Allen, 1992; Amott & Matthaei, 1991, Keogh, Montana, in 1879. pp. 34–35; Mann, 2008).or Women could also impeach chiefs that did not make decisions in the interests of the group or live up to their standards (George-Kanentiio, 2006, p. 45; This phrasing, that women “own the land and soil,” Mann, 2008, p. 191). shows how indigenous Americans thought of land owner- The colonists and Native Americans viewed gender ship; that is, land belongs to the group. This is partly why differently,post, too. The colonists believed that one’s gender Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, was incensed to find that a few came from God and that gender relations on earth should men had sold land to settlers while he was away. He spoke model the biblical account of Adam and Eve. For them, to Governor William Henry about why this was problem- gender was a binary: A person is either a girl/woman or a atic, saying, boy/man. They linked gender to biological sex (e.g., anat- omy) and saw women and men as having essential differ- [the] Great Spirit that made them, to keep it, ences. In their interpretation of Genesis, God made woman to traverse it, to enjoy its productions . . . itcopy, never was from man. Thus, in colonial families, men were expected divided, but belongs to all for the use of each. For no to be patriarchs (“fathers”) who would rule families as God part has a right to sell, even to each other, much less the Father is said to rule over creation—with ultimate to strangers—those who wantnot all, and will not do with power and authority. Women and children were expected less. (Tecumseh, 1810, as cited in Drake, 1845, p. 121) to be subservient to them. Because fathers are of the utmost importance in patriarchal Although the European notion of individuals owning, societies like Great Britain and the American colonies, those selling, and buying Doland went against this ethos (Andersen, societies are patrilineal. This means that people trace their name 2016; Banner, 2005) Native Americans had a system of land and lineage through the father’s family line. Patriarchal societies tenure that served them for generations, somewhat like the also tend to be patrilocal. That is, when (heterosexual) couples English common gardens with which colonists may have get married, the woman would leave her father’s (family) house been familiar (Banner, 2005; Craven, 1970, p. 107). Land to live with her husband and his family. was often given to individuals and those people had land Native Americans also connected gender and the use rights, but anyone could hunt or gather on unallocated spiritual world, but their creation accounts are woman- land (Banner, 2005, p. 37). According to one Creek chief, centered and often emphasize women’s ability to bring “We have no suits about land titles because the title is not life into the world. For example, the Iroquois tell of Sky disputable” (Banner, 2005, p. 266). People who lived happily (in the sky) and for whom death

230 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. did not exist. When a pregnant Sky Woman fell toward earth, the birds caught her and other animals helped, too. Together, they created the world (Allen, 1992; Anderson, 2016; Nash & Strobel, 2006, p. 40). Because women are central to cre- ation stories, Native Americans con- sidered them central to everything on earth. Thus, the social organization George Catlin / Wikimedia Commons of many tribes, such as the Iroquois, Tlingit, and Navajo, are matrilineal. In matrilineal societies people trace their name and lineage through the mother’s family. Many of these tribes were also matrilocal. That is, when heterosexual couples got married, the man would George Catlin’s “Dance to the Berdache.” move into his wife’s (family) home rather than she moving to live in his (George- Kanentiio, 2006; Nash & Strobel, 2006). communities, such a person could be recognized as a Native Americans separated gender, sex, and sexual ori- woman although they are biologically male. Keep in mind entation which allowed for gender expression beyond the that these genderdistribute categories don’t always translate well into girl/woman and boy/man dichotomy of colonial America. English (Âpihtawikosisân, 2010). We may be tempted to (See Chapter 1 for a basic review and Chapters 11 and 12 think about them through a Western framework, seeing for details.) Researchers have documented as many as 130 them oras gender binary with additional options. Blackwood tribal communities that welcomed two-spirit people— (1997) urges us not think this way because doing so priv- formerly called berdache by anthropologists and hermaph- ileges certain categories and presumed relationships (e.g., rodites by Europeans (Roscoe, 2014)—who identify as both female/girl/woman, male/boy/man) over others (p. 288). genders or who identify outside of the Western gender Rather, she suggests, we need to think about the diversity binary (Lang, 2010; Roscoe, 1991, p. 5; Thomas, 1997). of Native American genders as a holistic system of gender Some people also use two-spirit to include diversepost, sexual relations. (Also see Mirandé, 2017.) orientations (e.g., lesbian/gay, queer). In reality, the two- spirit designation is more complex; it connects and cuts across gender and sexuality. BELIEF SYSTEMS The number and type of two-spirit genders varied by AND GENDER tribal community including the winkte (Lakota), nádleehí In every society, belief systems (ideologies) shape norms (Navajo), kwidó (), tainnacopy, wa’ippe (Shoshone), dubuds of behavior and other aspects of social structure. Native (Paiute), and lhamana (Zuni). The Navajo, for example, American communities believed that the Great Creator had four genders (Thomas, 1997) while the Cree had five made everything, including two-spirit people. They were (Âpihtawikosisân, 2012), for example, a “feminine” male thought to have the qualities and skills of both women and who lives as a womannot and is viewed as a woman. Or, a “mas- men and, thus, were seen as uniquely sacred. This gender culine” female who is socially defined and accepted as a man status gave them a special role in their communities for (Estrada, 2011; Lang, 2010; Mirandé, 2017; Thomas, 1997). which they received appreciation and respect (Anderson, TheseDo labels may sound similar to contemporary ways 2016; Cherry, 2012; Harrington, 2016; Mirandé, 2017; of thinking about gender. For example, people display Roscoe, 1991). The “Old West” painter, George Catlin, femininity and masculinity to varying degrees. However, documented the celebration of two-spirit people among in contemporary American society, people tend to think the plains Indians in his painting, “Dance to the Berdache.” of a “feminine” male/man as a man. In traditional Native Mythology and religious beliefs encouraged accep- tance of two-spirit people. For example, the Zuni have

Two-spirit people identify as both genders or identify Ko’lhamana, a two-spirit god. Likewise, the Maricopa outside of the Western gender binary of girl/woman have Avialyxa (Lang, 2010), the Bella Coola have Sx’ints or boy/man. (or Skhints), and the Navajo have Begochiddy, described as a “cross-dressing shape-shifting bisexual Navajo

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 231 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. “matched” a certain kind of anatomy (Anderson, 2016; Lang 2010; Mirandé, 2017). (Today, we call people with sex and gender congruence cis gender.) Among the and Mohave, children’s friends and preferences for play could, for example, influence one’s gender. A biological female who preferred to play with boys or “boys’ toys” could live as a boy (Allen, 1992; Gilley, 2006). They might adopt boys’ clothing and do work assigned to boys and people would recognize them as a boy (rather than what we, today, might call a “tomboy”). Likewise, biological males might wear women’s clothing and do women’s work and be accepted as women (Mirandé, 2017). Being two-spirit was normative within different indigenous communities until the 1890s. Community

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration / Wikimedia Commons members did not see two-spirit people as acting, confused, We’Wha, a Zuni “Lhamana,” is one of the best recognized two-spirit persons or deviant. However, the influence of European culture, who also served as an ambassador for the Zuni people (Roscoe, 1991). especially Christian beliefs about gender, changed that (Thomas, 1997, p. 156). Native American writer Leslie Silko describes that shift among the Laguna, saying, “before god . . . who is the son of the Sun and a creator of wild the arrival of Christian missionaries, a man could dress as a and domestic animals” (Roscoe, 1991, c.f. Brunnerová, woman and work with the women, and even marry a man 2016, p. 35). The Acoma-Laguna Pueblo have stories that without any fanfare. Likewise, a woman was free to dress describe the Storoka, an entire community of two-spirit distribute people (Brunnerová, 2016; Cherry, 2012; Roscoe, 2014, p. 12). Lastly, the Bella Coola have a story that highlights or the unique contributions of two-spirit people. It tells of Winwina, six supernatural birds, and Ala’yao, a two-spirit person, who go in search of food. Each bird finds a differ- ent type of salmon while Ala’yao gathers the first berries for people to eat (Bagemihl, 2000; Carlson-Ghost, 2016). In contemporary language, we would say that Native post, Americans accepted gender fluidity. Someone could choose their gender based on a dream or their perceived skills (for example) rather than having to be the gender that

TABLE 7.2 Gender Role Change

copy, Photograph by John H. Fouch, 1877. Courtesy of Dr. James Brust. TRIBE OCCUPATIONS CONTEXT

Shoshoni Hunting, men’s Sometimes men’s clothing; one work in general case:not married, hunted; other case: wore only man’s clothing

Sinkaietk Hunting Refused to marry; behavior not Do supported by the community Thompson Behaved “like Rare cases; men’s clothing men”

Ute Men’s work Men’s clothing Osh-Tisch (left), a Crow two-spirit person, born biologically male, in Wintu Men’s work, not Women’s clothing; lived with clothing typically worn by women. On the right is The Other Magpie, clothing women biologically female and who identified as a woman. (Today we could Wiyot Hunting Men’s clothing call her cisgender; see Chapter 11.) In this rare photo she wears men’s attire, perhaps recreating the clothing she wore as a woman warrior. Both were afforded social status for their bravery in battle and for other SOURCE: “Masculine Role Aspects Taken Up by men-Women & Women,” Lang 2010, contributions to their tribal communities. p. 270–271.

232 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. like a man, to hunt and go to war with the men, and to RELATIONS WITH THE marry a woman. In the old Pueblo world view, we are all a mixture of male and female, and the sexual identity is con- FEDERAL GOVERNMENT stantly changing” (Silko, 2013/1999, p. 67). AFTER THE 1890s Table 7.2 illustrates what Lang (2010) calls gender role change. Some native women wanted to do “men’s By the end of the Indian Wars in 1890, Native Americans work” and were generally permitted to do so. Others had few resources with which to defend their self-inter- had identities more aligned with two-spirit people or ests. In addition to being confined to the reservations, “men-women.” most Native American groups were scattered throughout Anthropologist Sue-Ellen Jacobs says that most of the the western two thirds of the United States and split by tribes she studied spoke about homosexuality in positive cultural and linguistic differences. Politically, the power ways. The 11 tribes that denied the existence of homosex- of the group was further limited by the facts that the uality among their members were those with the “heaviest, huge majority of Native Americans were not U.S. citi- lengthiest, and most severely puritanical white encroach- zens and most tribes lacked a cultural basis for under- ment” (Anderson, 2016, p. 66). standing representative democracy as practiced in the Native Americans view of land ownership and their larger society. lack of experience with deeds, titles, contracts, and other Economically, Native Americans were among the most Western legal concepts often made it difficult for them impoverished groups in society. Reservation lands were to defend their resources from Anglo-Americans. Over generally of poor quality, traditional food sources such time, Christian missionaries and government represen- as buffalo and other game had been destroyed, and tradi- tatives continued to pursue an assimilationist path. They tional hunting grounds and gardening plots had been lost tried to reverse the traditional Native American division to white farmers and ranchers. The tribes had few means of of labor, in which women handled the gardening, because satisfying evendistribute their most basic needs. Many became totally in the Western view, only men did farm work. Likewise, dependent on the federal government for food, shelter, they pushed women out of the fur trade (Anderson, 2016). clothing,or and other necessities. Military and political representatives of the dominant Prospects for improvement seemed slim. Most reserva- society usually ignored women tribal leaders and imposed tions were in remote areas, far from sites of industrialization Western notions of patriarchy and men leadership on and modernization (see Figure 7.2), and Native Americans the tribes (Amott & Matthaei, 1991, p. 39). According to had few of the skills (knowledge of English, familiarity with Anderson (2016), George Washington said he planned “to Western work habits and routines) that would have enabled turn Native men into industrious, republican farmerspost, and them to compete for a place in the increasingly urban and women into chaste, orderly housewives” (p. 38). These industrial American society of the early 20th century. Off cultural differences in thinking—about nature, land own- the reservations, racial prejudice and strong intolerance ership, gender, sexuality, and family—compounded by the limited them. On the reservations, they were subjected to power differentials, often placed Native Americans at a dis- policies designed either to maintain their powerlessness advantage when dealing with the dominant group. and poverty or to force them to Americanize. Either way, copy, the future of Native Americans was in serious jeopardy, and their destructive relations with white society continued in QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION peace as they had in war. 1. Why are there different estimates for the size of the Native Americannot and Alaska Native population? How RESERVATION LIFE do these differences support the idea that race is a social construction? As would be expected for a conquered and still hostile group, the reservations were intended to closely super- 2. WhatDo are the key characteristics of Native American vise Native Americans and maintain their powerlessness. cultures? How do these vary from Anglo culture? Relationships with the federal government were paternalis- Describe the conflicting notions regarding gender. tic and featured a variety of policies designed to coercively How did these differences shape Anglo–Indian acculturate the tribes. relations?

3. Describe the main tenets of colonists’ and Native Paternalism and the . The American belief systems. How did those ideas shape reservations were run not by the tribes, but by an agency group life? How did they fuel tensions between the of the federal government: the Bureau of Indian Affairs groups? (BIA) of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The BIA and

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 233 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. FIGURE 7.2 Native American Reservations in the United States

WA

MT ND VT ME OR MN ID SD NH MA WI NY WY MI RI IA PA CT NE NV NJ UT IL OH IN DE CO MD CA KS WV MO VA KY NC TN AZ OK NM AR SC

GA MS AL TX LA distributeFL American Indian Reservationsor

SOURCE: U.S. Parks Service. n.d. https://www.nps.gov/nagpra/DOCUMENTS/ResMAP.HTM.

its local superintendent controlled virtually all aspects of ofpost, U.S. Indian policy was the Dawes Allotment Act of everyday life, including the reservation budget, the crimi- 1887, a deeply flawed attempt to impose white definitions nal justice system, and the schools. The BIA (again, not the of land ownership that divided Native American land into tribes) even determined tribal membership. smaller units that the government gave to individuals. The The traditional leadership structures and political government would offer U.S. citizenship to those Native institutions of the tribes were ignored as the BIA executed Americans who took the land and lived away from their its duties with little regard for, and virtuallycopy, no input from, tribal communities. the people it supervised. The BIA superintendent of the The intention was to give each Indian family the reservations “ordinarily became the most powerful influ- means to survive like their white neighbors and to encour- ence on local Indian affairs, evennot though he was a govern- age Native people to assimilate into the larger white society. ment employee, not responsible to the Indians but to his Once the land had been allotted, the U.S. government superiors in Washington” (Spicer, 1980, p. 117). The super- then put the rest up for sale to non-Native settlers. intendent controlled the food supply and communications with the world outsideDo the reservation. This control was The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is the federal used to reward tribal members who cooperated and punish agency responsible for the administration of Indian those who did not. reservations.

Coercive Acculturation: The Dawes Act and Boarding Dawes Allotment Act of 1887 was a key piece of Schools. Consistent with the Blauner hypothesis, Native U.S. government policy that divided Native American Americans on the reservations were subjected to coercive land into smaller units for individual ownership and acculturation or forced Americanization. Their culture was moved indigenous people away from their tribal attacked, their languages and religions forbidden, and their communities. institutions circumvented and undermined. The centerpiece

234 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. United States Department of the Interior / Wikimedia Commons Burton Historical Collection/Detroit Public Library/Wikimedia Commons

The U.S. Army encouraged massive hunts that nearly made bison extinct in the 1870s. One goal of the hunts was to force native people off Plains land and onto reservations.

Although the law might seem benevolent in intent (certainly, thousands of immigrant families would have been thrilled to own land), it was flawed by a gross lack of understanding of Native American cultures and needs, and distribute in many ways, it was a direct attack on those cultures, in

part, because of the way it reorganized tribal communities. U.S. Department of the Interior sold “Indian Land.” This 1911 Many Native Americans had little or no concept of land advertisementor features Padani-Kokipa-Sni, also known as “Not Afraid of as private property, and it was relatively easy for settlers, land Pawnee,” of the Yankton and Siouan (Sioux) Tribes. speculators, and others to separate Indian families from the land allocated to them by this legislation. By allotting land not in session, children were often boarded with local white to families and individuals, the legislation sought to destroy families, usually as unpaid domestic helpers or farmhands, and the broader kinship, clan, and tribal social structures and prevented from visiting their families and revitalizing their replace them with Western systems that featured individupost,- tribal ties (Hoxie, 1984; Spicer, 1980; Wax, 1971). alism and the profit motive (Cornell, 1988, p. 80). The U.S. government allotted about 140 million acres to Native Americans in 1887. By the 1930s, nearly 90 million of those acres—almost 65%—had been lost. Most of the remaining land was desert or otherwise non- productive and would not be ablecopy, to support their commu- nities (Wax, 1971, p. 55). From the standpoint of the Indian nations, the Dawes Allotment Act was a disaster and a fur-

ther erosion of their limited resources (for more details, see John N. Choate/Wikimedia Commons Josephy, 1968; Lurie,not 1982; McNickle, 1973; Wax, 1971). Additionally, coercive acculturation operated through a variety of other avenues. Whenever possible, the BIA sent NativeDo American children to boarding schools, sometimes hundreds of miles away from parents and other kin, where they were required to speak English, convert to Christianity, and become educated in the ways of Western civilization such Hastiin To’Haali, a Navajo (Diné) who became known as Tom Torlino. The as dressing in western style clothing (Jacobs, 2009). Consistent photo on the left was taken when he entered Carlisle Boarding School in 1882. The photo on the right was taken three years later. Some suggest with the Blauner (1972) hypothesis, tribal languages, dress, that photographers used filters and lighting to darken the “before” images and religion were forbidden, and to the extent that native cul- and lighten the “after” images. He did not fully assimilate as the school tures were mentioned at all, they were attacked and ridiculed. hoped. Rather, he returned to his community and his life as a healer and rancher. He used his knowledge of English to help his community in Children of different tribes were mixed together as room- dealing with Westerners. mates to speed the acquisition of English. When school was

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 235 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. NARRATIVE PORTRAIT

Civilize Them With a Stick

In recent decades, boarding schools for from ours—the shock to the child upon I learned quickly that I would be Native American children have been arrival is still tremendous. . . . beaten if I failed in my devotions or, much improved. Facilities have been In the traditional Sioux fam- God forbid, prayed the wrong way, modernized and upgraded. The cur- ily, the child is never left alone. It is especially prayed in Indian to Wakan riculum has been updated and often always surrounded by relatives, car- Tanka, the Indian creator. . . . includes elements of Native American ried around, enveloped in warmth. It My classroom was right next culture and language. Still, it was not is treated with the respect due to any to the principal’s office and almost that long ago that coercive accultura- human being, even a small one. It is every day I could hear him swatting tion at its worst was the daily routine. seldom forced to do anything against the boys. Beating was the common In the following passage, Mary its will, seldom screamed at, and punishment for not doing one’s home- Crow Dog, a member of the Sioux never beaten. . . . And then suddenly work, or for being late to school. It tribe who became deeply involved in a bus or car arrives full of strangers, had such a bad effect upon me that the that began who yank the child out of the arms of I hated and mistrusted every white in the 1960s, recalls some of the those who love it, taking it screaming person on sight, because I met only horrors of her experiences at a reser- to the boarding school. The only word one kind. It was not until much later vation boarding school. As you read I can think of for what is done to these that I met sincere white people I could her words, keep in mind that she was children is kidnapping. . . . relate to and be friends with. Racism born in 1955 and started school in The mission school at St. Francis breeds racism in reverse. the early 1960s, just a generation or was a curse for our family for gener- two ago. ations. My grandmother went there, SOURCE: Lakota Woman (1990, pp. 28–34). then my mother, then my sisters and I. Copyright © 1990distribute by Mary Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes. Used by permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc. At one time or another, every one of LAKOTA WOMAN us tried to run away. Grandma told me about the bad times she experienced Mary Crow Dog Questionsor to Consider at St. Francis. In those days they let It is almost impossible to explain . . . students go home only for one week 1. How does this passage what a typical old Indian boarding every year. Two days were used up for illustrate the concept of school was like; how it affected the transportation, which meant spending “coercive acculturation”? Indian child suddenly dumped into just 5 days out of every 365 with her What other concepts seem it like a small creature from another family. . . . My mother had much the applicable? Why? world, helpless, defenseless, bewil- same experiences but never wanted 2. What do you think about dered, trying desperately to survive and to talk about them, andpost, then there Mary Crow Dog’s comment sometimes not surviving at all. Even was I, in the same place. . . . Nothing that “racism breeds racism in now, when these schools are so much had changed since my grandmother’s reverse”? Does this idea apply improved, when . . . the teachers [are] days. I have been told that even in to other situations discussed in well-intentioned, even trained in child the ‘70s they were still beating chil- this text? How about to situations psychology—unfortunately the psychol- dren at that school. All I got out of you have observed or experienced ogy of white children, which is different copy,school was being taught how to pray. personally? not Native Americans were virtually powerless to change The Indian Reorganization Act. By the 1930s, the failure the reservation system or avoid the campaign of accultur- of the reservation system and the policy of forced assimila- ation. Nonetheless, they resented and resisted coerced tion had become obvious to all who cared to observe. The Americanization, andDo many languages and cultural ele- quality of life for Native Americans had not improved, and ments survived the early reservation period, although often there was little economic development, as well as fewer job in altered form. For example, the traditional tribal religions opportunities, on the reservations. Health care was woe- remained vital throughout the period, despite the fact that by fully inadequate, and education levels lagged far behind the 1930s, the great majority of Native Americans had affili- national standards. ated with one Christian faith or another. Furthermore, many The plight of Native Americans eventually found new religions were founded, some combining Christian­ and a sympathetic ear in the administration of Franklin D. traditional elements (Spicer, 1980, p. 118). Mary Crow Dog’s Roosevelt, who was elected president in 1932, and John Narrative Portrait earlier in this chapter gives an intimate Collier, the man he appointed to run the BIA. Collier was account of the dynamics of coercive acculturation. knowledgeable about Native American issues and concerns,

236 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. and was instrumental in securing the passage of the Indian more sympathetic to Native Americans in intent than in Reorganization Act (IRA) in 1934. execution. On the one hand, not all tribes were capable of This landmark legislation contained a number of sig- taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the leg- nificant provisions for Native Americans and broke sharply islation, and some ended up being further victimized. For with the federal policies of the past. In particular, the IRA example, in the tribe, located in the Southwest, the rescinded the Dawes Act of 1887 and the policy of individ- Act allowed a Westernized group of Native Americans to ualizing tribal lands. It also provided means by which the be elected to leadership roles, with the result that domi- tribes could expand their landholdings. Many of the mecha- nant group firms were allowed to have access to the mineral nisms of coercive Americanization in the school system and resources, farmland, and water rights controlled by the tribe. elsewhere were dismantled. Financial aid in various forms The resultant development generated wealth for the white and expertise were made available for the economic devel- firms and their Hopi allies, but most of the tribe continued opment of the reservations. In perhaps the most significant to languish in poverty (Churchill, 1985, pp. 112–113). On departure from earlier policy, the IRA proposed an increase the other hand, some tribes prospered (at least compara- in Native American self-governance and a reduction of the tively speaking) under the IRA. One impoverished, landless paternalistic role of the BIA and other federal agencies. group of Cherokee in Oklahoma acquired land, equipment, Although sympathetic to Native Americans, the IRA and expert advice through the IRA, and between 1937 and had its limits and shortcomings. Many of its intentions were 1949, they developed a prosperous, largely debt-free farm- never realized, and the empowerment of the tribes was not ing community (Debo, 1970, pp. 294–300). Many tribes unqualified. The move to self-governance generally took remained suspicious of the IRA, and by 1948, fewer than place on the dominant group’s terms and in conformity 100 tribes had voted to accept its provisions. with the values and practices of white society. For example, the proposed increase in the decision-making power of the The Termination Policy. The IRA’s stress on the legiti- tribes was contingent on their adoption of Anglo-American macy of tribaldistribute identity seemed “un-American” to many. political forms, including secret ballots, majority rule, and There was constant pressure on the federal government written constitutions. These were alien concepts to those to returnor to an individualistic policy that encouraged (or tribes that selected leaders by procedures other than pop- required) Americanization. Some viewed the tribal struc- ular election (e.g., leaders might be chosen by councils of tures and communal property-holding patterns as relics of elders) or that made decisions by open discussion and con- an earlier era and as impediments to modernization and sensus building (i.e., decisions required the agreement of development. Not so incidentally, some elements of dom- everyone with a voice in the process, not a simple majority). inant society still coveted the remaining Indian lands and The incorporation of these Western forms illustratespost, the resources, which could be more easily exploited if property basically assimilationist intent of the IRA. ownership were individualized. The IRA had variable effects on Native American In 1953, the assimilationist forces won a victory when women. In tribes that were dominated by men, the IRA Congress passed a resolution calling for an end to the res- gave women new rights to participate in elections, run for ervation system and to the special relationships between the office, and hold leadership roles. In other cases, new polit- tribes and the federal government. The proposed policy, ical structures replaced traditionalcopy, forms, some of which, called termination, was intended to get the federal gov- as in the Iroquois culture, had accorded women consid- ernment “out of the Indian business.” It rejected the IRA erable power. Although the political effects were variable, and proposed a return to the system of private land own- the programs funded by the IRA provided opportunities ership imposed on the tribes by the Dawes Act. Horrified for women on manynot reservations to receive education and at the notion of termination, the tribes opposed the pol- training for the first time. Many of these opportunities were icy strongly and vociferously. Under this policy, all special oriented toward domestic tasks and other roles tradition- relationships—including treaty obligations—between the ally doneDo by Western women, but some prepared Native federal government and the tribes would end. Tribes would American women for jobs outside the family and off the no longer exist as legally recognized entities, and tribal reservation, such as clerical work and nursing (Evans, 1989, lands and other resources would be placed in private hands pp. 208–209). (Josephy, 1968, pp. 353–355). In summary, the IRA of 1934 was a significant improve- ment over prior federal Indian policy, but was bolder and

Termination was a federal policy intended to end The Indian Reorganization Act, passed in 1934, was the reservation system and the special relationships intended to give Indians more autonomy. between Indian tribes and the federal government.

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 237 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. About 100 tribes, most of them small, were termi- FIGURE 7.3 Urbanization of Native nated. In virtually all cases, the termination process was Americans, 1900–2010 administered hastily, and fraud, misuse of funds, and other 80 injustices were common. The Menominee of Wisconsin 71% and the Klamath on the West Coast were the two larg- 70 67% est tribes to be terminated. Both suffered devastating 60 56.2% economic losses and precipitous declines in quality of 49% 50 44.5% life. Neither tribe had the business or tax base needed to 40 finance the services (e.g., health care and schooling) for- 30 27.9% merly provided by the federal government, and both were 20 forced to sell land, timber, and other scarce resources to 13.4% 9.9% 7.2% maintain minimal standards of living. Many poor Native Percentage Living in Urban Areas 10 4.5% 6.1% 0.4% American families were forced to turn to local and state 0 agencies, which placed severe strain on welfare budgets. 0 0 0 0 1900 1910 192 1930 1940 1950 196 1970 198 1990 200 2010 The experience of the Menominee was so disastrous that, at the concerted request of the tribe, reservation status SOURCE: 1900–1990: Thornton, 2001, p. 142. 2000 and 2010: U.S. Bureau of the Census, was restored in 1973; for the Klamath it was restored in 2013f. 1986 (Raymer, 1974; Snipp, 1996, p. 394). difficult for the men of the group to fulfill the role of Relocation and Urbanization. At about the same time breadwinner, thus, the burden of supporting the family the termination policy came into being, various programs tended to fall on the women. The difficulties inherent in were established to encourage Native Americans to move to combining child rearing and a job outside the home are urban areas. The movement to the city had already begun in compounded by isolation fromdistribute the support networks pro- the 1940s, spurred by the availability of factory jobs during vided by extended family and clan back on the reserva- World War II. In the 1950s, the movement was further tions. Nevertheless,or one study found that Native American encouraged with programs of assistance and by the declin- women in the city continue to practice their traditional ing government support for economic development on the cultures and maintain the tribal identity of their children reservation, the most dramatic example of which was the pol- (Joe & Miller, 1994, p. 186). icy of termination (Green, 1999, p. 265). Centers for Native Native Americans living in the city are, on average, Americans were established in many cities, and various ser- better off than those living on reservations, where unem- vices (e.g., job training, housing assistance, English instruc- ploymentpost, can reach 80% or even 90%. The improvement tion) were offered to assist in the adjustment to urban life. is relative, however. Although many individual Native The urbanization of the Native American popula- Americans prosper in the urban environment, income tion is displayed in Figure 7.3. Note the rapid increase in figures for urban Native Americans as a whole are the movement to the city that began in the 1950s. More comparable to those for African Americans and well below than 70% of all Native Americans are now urbanized, and those for whites. Native American unemployment rates run since 1950, Indians have urbanized faster thancopy, the general much higher than the national average. For example, in the population. Nevertheless, Native Americans are still the first half of 2010, unemployment for all Native Americans least urbanized minority group. The population as a whole was about 15%, comparable to the figure for African is about 80% urbanized; in contrast, African Americans (see Americans (see Figure 6.3) and 67% higher than that for Figure 5.2) are about 90% urbanized.not whites (Austin, 2010). Thus, a move to the city often means Like African Americans, Native Americans arrived trading rural poverty for the urban variety, with little net in the cities after the mainstream economy had begun to improvement in life chances. deemphasize blue-collarDo or manufacturing jobs. Because of Native Americans will probably remain more rural their relatively low average levels of educational attainment than other minority groups for years to come. Despite and their racial and cultural differences, Native Americans the poverty and lack of opportunities for schooling and in the city tended to encounter the same problems African jobs, the reservation offers some advantages in services Americans and other minority groups of color experienced: and lifestyle. On the reservation, there may be opportuni- high rates of unemployment, inadequate housing, and all ties for political participation and leadership roles that are the other travails of the urban underclass. not available in the cities, where Native Americans are a Native American women also migrated to the city tiny minority. Reservations also offer kinfolk, friends, reli- in considerable numbers. The discrimination, unemployment, gious services, and tribal celebrations (Snipp, 1989, p. 84). and poverty of the urban environment often made it Lower levels of education, work experience, and financial

238 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. resources combine with the prejudice, discrimination, and PROTEST AND racism of the larger society to lower the chances of success in the city, and will probably sustain a continuing return to RESISTANCE the reservations. Although the economic benefits of urbanization have EARLY EFFORTS been slim for the group as whole, other advantages have As BIA-administered reservations and coercive Americani­ accrued from life in the city. It was much easier to estab- zation came to dominate tribal life in the early 20th lish networks of friendship and affiliation across tribal century, new forms of Indian activism appeared. The mod- lines in the cities, and urban Indians have been one of the ern protest movement was tiny at first and, with few excep- sources of strength and personnel for a movement of pro- tions, achieved a measure of success only in recent decades. test that began early in the 20th century. Virtually all the In fact, the Native American protest movement in the past organizational vehicles of Native American protest have was not so much unsuccessful as simply ignored. The move- had urban roots. ment has focused on several complementary goals: protect- ing Native American resources and treaty rights, striking Self-Determination. The termination policy aroused so a balance between assimilation and pluralism, and finding much opposition from Native Americans and was such an a relationship with the dominant group that would permit a obvious disaster that the pressure to push tribes to termi- broader array of life chances without sacrificing tribal iden- nation faded in the late 1950s, although the act itself was tity and heritage. not repealed until 1975. Since the 1960s, federal Indian Formally organized Native American protest organi- policy has generally returned to the tradition set by the zations have existed since the 1910s, but the modern phase IRA. Termination and forced assimilation continue to be of the protest movement began during World War II. Many officially rejected, and within limits, the tribes have been Native Americansdistribute served in the military or moved to the granted more freedom to find their own way, at their own city to take jobs in aid of the war effort and were thereby pace, of relating to the larger society. exposed to the world beyond the reservation. Also, political Several federal programs and laws have benefited the activismor on reservations, which had been stimulated by the tribes during the past few decades, including the antipov- IRA, continued through the war years, as the recognition of erty and “Great Society” campaigns launched in the 1960s. growing problems that were shared across tribal lines grew. In 1970, President Richard Nixon affirmed the govern- These trends helped stimulate the founding of the ment’s commitment to fulfilling treaty obligations and the National Congress of Native Americans (NCAI) in 1944. right of the tribes to self-governance. The Indian Self- This organization was pan-tribal (i.e., included mem- Determination and Education Assistance Act was passedpost, in bers from many different tribes); 50 different tribes 1975. This legislation increased aid to reservation schools and reservations attended its first convention (Cornell, and Native American students, and increased tribal control 1988, p. 119). The leadership consisted largely of Native over the administration of the reservations, from police Americans educated and experienced in the white world. forces to schools to road maintenance. However, the NCAI’s program stressed the importance of The Self-Determination Act primarily benefited the preserving the old ways and tribal institutions as well as larger tribes and those that copy,had well-established admin- istrative and governing structures. Smaller and less well-­ protecting Indian welfare. An early victory for the NCAI organized tribes have continued to rely heavily on the and its allies came in 1946 when the federal govern- federal government (Snipp, 1996, p. 394). Nonetheless, in ment created an Indian Claims Commission. This body many cases, this notnew phase of federal policy has allowed was authorized to hear claims brought by the tribes with Native American tribes to plot their own courses free of regard to treaty violations. The commission has since set- paternalistic regulation, and just as important, it gave them tled hundreds of claims, resulting in awards of millions the toolsDo and resources to address their problems and of dollars to the tribes, and it continues its work today improve their situations. Decision making was returned to (Weeks, 1988, pp. 261–262). local authorities, who were “held more accountable to local In the 1950s and 1960s, the protest movement was needs, conditions, and cultures than outsiders” (Taylor & further stimulated by the threat of termination and by Kalt, 2005, p. xi). the increasing number of Native Americans living in In the view of many, self-determination is a key rea- the cities who developed friendships across tribal lines. son for the recent improvements in the status of Native Awareness of common problems, rising levels of edu- Americans, and we will look at some of these develop- cation, and the examples set by the successful protests ments after examining the Native American protest of other minority groups also increased readiness for movement. collective action.

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 239 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. RED POWER Another widely publicized episode took place in 1969, when Native Americans from various tribes occupied By the 1960s and 1970s, Native American protest groups Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, the site of a closed were finding ways to express their grievances and problems federal prison. The protesters were acting on an old law to the nation. The Red Power Movement, like the Black that granted Native Americans the right to reclaim aban- Power Movement (see Chapter 6), encompassed a coalition doned federal land. The was orga- of groups, many considerably more assertive than the NCAI, nized in part by the American Indian Movement (AIM), and a varied collection of ideas, most of which stressed founded in 1968. More militant and radical than the pre- self-determination and pride in race and cultural heritage. viously established protest groups, AIM aggressively con- Red Power protests included a “fish-in” in Washington State fronted the BIA, the police, and other forces that were seen in 1965, an episode that also illustrates the nature of Native as repressive. With the backing of AIM and other groups, American demands. The state of Washington had tried to Alcatraz was occupied for nearly four years and generated limit the fishing rights of several different tribes because the a great deal of publicity for the Red Power Movement and supply of fish was diminishing and needed to be protected. the plight of Native Americans. The tribes depended on fishing for subsistence and survival, In 1972, AIM helped organize a march on Washington, and they argued that their right to fish had been guaranteed D.C., called the Trail of Broken Treaties. Marchers came by treaties signed in the 1850s and it was the pollution and from many tribes and represented both urban and res- commercial fishing of the dominant society that had depleted ervation Indians. The intent of the marchers was to dra- the supply of fish. They organized a “fish-in” in violation of matize the problems of the tribes. The leaders offered a the state’s policy and were met by a contingent of police 20-point position paper that demanded the abolition of the officers and other law officials. Violent confrontations and BIA, the return of illegally taken land, and increased self- mass arrests ensued. Three years later, after a lengthy and governance for the tribes, among other things. When they expensive court battle, the tribes were vindicated, and the reached Washington, some distributeof the marchers forcibly occu- U.S. Supreme Court confirmed their treaty rights to fish the pied the BIA offices. Property was damaged (by which rivers of Washington State (Nabakov, 1999, pp. 362–363). side is disputed), andor records and papers were destroyed. FIGURE 7.4 Map of the Dakota Access Pipeline post,

copy, not Do

SOURCE: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bakken_map_osm_basemap.png.

240 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. The marchers eventually surrendered, and none of their demands were met. The fol- lowing year, AIM occupied the village of Wounded Knee in to pro- test the violation of treaty rights. Wounded Knee was the site of the last armed con- frontation between Native Americans and Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images whites, in 1890, and was selected by AIM for its deep symbolic significance. The occu- pation lasted more than two months and involved several armed confrontations with federal authorities. Again, the protest ended without the federal government meeting any of the demands made by the Native American leadership (Olson & Wilson, 1984, pp. 172–175). Demonstration against the Dakota Access Pipeline on December 4, 2016.

THE DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE (DAPL) began living at three camps in (McKibben, 2016; Sammon, 2016). They received support from non- In 2016, Native Americans carried out their biggest protest indigenous supporters as well, including 2,100 U.S. of the last 40 years in opposition the construction of the military veteransdistribute offering to act as “human shields” in the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a 1,172-mile oil pipeline wake of a “militarized police force” (Healy, 2016; Veterans that would run from North Dakota through parts of Illinois for Standing Rock). Protests occurred throughout the (see Figure 7.4). Unitedor States and elsewhere and thousands of people Once built, the pipeline is expected to carry donated money to help with legal fees and supplies such as between 470,000 and 570,000 barrels of crude oil per generators, eye protection (against tear gas or water can- day (Dakota Access, LLC; Healy, 2016a). The original nons), and medical supplies. More than a million people route was rejected because it threated populous (mostly signed various online petitions asking the U.S. government white) residential areas and city water systems, leading to end the project and that banks end funding ETP and its the U.S. Corps of Engineers to recommend anpost, alter- partners (Amazon Watch, 2017). nate route .55 miles north of the Standing Rock Sioux This conflict illustrates familiar concerns about Reservation (Meyer, 2017) on land taken from them in land treaties, Native American sacred sites, and cultural 1958 (McKibben, 2016). preservation. Calling themselves water protectors, the Initially “fast-tracked,” DAPL received exemptions tribes have repeatedly sued the federal government, ETP, from the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean and its subsidiaries to prevent the pipeline’s construction. Water Act. The company behindcopy, DAPL, Energy Transfer The tribes argue that the land is theirs, noting that the Partners (ETP), has said it will create thousands of jobs U.S. Government has broken the 1851 and 1868 Laramie and be safer than pipelines now in use (McKibben, 2016; Treaties that gave them land west of the River. Meyer, 2017; Mufson, 2016). As early as 2014, the Standing ETP says it purchased the land from private landowners Rock Sioux (SRS)not expressed concerns about the potential (McKibben, 2016). impact of an oil spill on nearby land and water. Several fed- In September 2016, a court order temporarily halted eral agencies echoed the tribes’ concerns; for example, the DAPL construction. Tensions between protestors and DepartmentDo of the Interior said the proposed location was law enforcement (and some area locals) often ran high a “serious concern” and recommended an Environmental with police turning to pepper spray, dogs, tear gas, and Impact Statement be conducted (Sammon, 2016). water cannons to quell protests. Hundreds of people were The Great Sioux Nation tribes, including the Sioux, arrested and injured (Healy, 2016). As a preventative mea- Lakota, Oglala, and others, say the pipeline threatens 380 sure, the governor of North Dakota called in the National archeological and sacred sites, including burial grounds, Guard (Sammon, 2016). along its route (Matas, 2016). Thus, they argue, it threat- A federal judge rejected the Standing Rock Sioux’s ens Native American culture(s) (McKibben, 2016). In pro- petition to end construction. In response, the Department test, thousands of Native Americans from more than 100 of the Interior, Department of Justice, and the Department of tribes, and other indigenous people from around the world, the Army issued a statement asking ETP voluntarily to halt

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 241 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. construction until it could confirm whether or not DAPL pressure to acculturate even while arguing for the survival breaks National Environmental Policy Act rules (Sammon, of the tribes. Furthermore, successful protest required that 2016). The SRS made additional efforts to halt construc- Native Americans be fluent in English, trained in the law tion, each ultimately rejected by the courts. Citing costs and other professions, skilled in dealing with bureaucracies, due to delays and the need to dig before the ground froze and knowledgeable about the formulation and execution in winter, ETP moved forward with the project, ignoring of public policy. Native Americans who became proficient federal requests to wait. in these areas thereby took on the characteristics of their In November, the governor ordered protestors to leave, adversaries (Hraba, 1994, p. 235). saying that the camp is “not zoned for dwellings suitable As the pan-tribal protest movement forged ties between for living in winter conditions, and also [does] not possess members of diverse tribes, the successes of the movement proper permanent sanitation infrastructure to sustain a along with changing federal policy and public opinion encour- living environment consistent with proper public health” aged a rebirth of commitment to tribalism and “Indianness.” (Yardley, 2016). Before leaving, the remaining protestors Native Americans were simultaneously stimulated to assimi- burned the camp. In June 2017, a judge ruled that the Corps’ late (by stressing their common characteristics and creating investigation of “the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, organizational forms that united the tribes) and to retain a hunting rights, or environmental justice” was “particularly pluralistic relationship with the larger society (by working for deficient” and ordered a new study (Meyer, 2017). As of fall self-determination and enhanced tribal power and authority). 2017, the pipeline project had moved forward even as pro- Thus, part of the significance of the Red Power Movement tests and legal efforts to stop the pipeline continued around was that it encouraged both pan-tribal unity and a continua- the country (Hand, 2017; Hult, 2017; Sawyer, 2017). tion of tribal diversity (Olson & Wilson, 1984, p. 206). Today, Native Americans continue to seek a way of existing in the larger society that merges assimilation with pluralism. PROTEST AND Table 7.3 summarizes thisdistribute discussion of federal policy PRESERVATION OF NATIVE and Indian protest. The four major policy phases since the AMERICAN CULTURES end of overt hostilitiesor in 1890 are listed on the left. The Ironically, the struggle for Red Power encouraged assimi- thrust of the government’s economic and political poli- lation as well as pluralism. The movement linked members cies are listed in the next two columns, followed by a brief of different tribes and forced Indians of diverse heritages to characterization of tribal response. The last column shows find common ground, often in the form of a generic Native the changing bases for federal policy, sometimes aimed American culture. Inevitably, the protests were conducted at weakening tribal structures and individualizing Native in English, and the grievances were expressed in ways that Americans,post, and sometimes (including most recently) aimed were understandable to white society, thus increasing the at working with and preserving tribal structures.

TABLE 7.3 Federal Indian Policy and Indian Response

ECONOMIC copy, INDIAN GOVERNMENT PERIOD IMPACT POLITICAL IMPACT RESPONSE APPROACH Reservation late Land loss (Dawes Government control of Some resistance; Individualistic; creation of 1800s–1930s Act) and welfare reservation and coerced growth of religious self-sufficient farmers dependencynot acculturation movements Reorganization (IRA) Stabilized land base Established federally Increased political Incorporated tribes as 1930s and 1940s and supported some sponsored tribal governments participation in many groups; creation of self- development of tribes; some pan- sufficient “Americanized” reservation tribal activity communities Termination and DoWithdrawal of New assault on tribes; Increased pan- Individualistic; dissolved Relocation late government support new forms of coercive tribalism; widespread tribal ties and promoted 1940s–early 1960s for reservations; acculturation and intense incorporation into the promotion of opposition to modern, urban labor market urbanization termination Self-Determination Developed reservation Support for tribal Greatly increased Incorporated tribes as self- 1960s to present economies; increased governments political activity sufficient communities with integration of Indian access to federal programs labor force of support and welfare

SOURCE: Based on Cornell, Kalt, Krepps, and Taylor (1998, p. 5).

242 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION the 1975 Indian Self-Determination Act. For example, the White Mountain of Arizona own a variety of enter- What are the major phases in Indian–white relations 3. prises, including a major ski resort and a casino (Cornell & since the 1890s? What laws and federal policies Kalt, 1998, pp. 3–4). On many other reservations, however, shaped these changes? How did Indians respond? even richer stores of resources lie dormant, awaiting the 4. Compare and contrast the Red Power Movement with right combination of tribal leadership, expertise, and devel- the Black Power Movement discussed in Chapter 6. opment capital. On a broader level, tribes are banding together to share How were the similarities and differences shaped by 5. expertise and negotiate more effectively with the larger the groups’ situations? society. For example, 25 tribes founded the Council of Energy Resource Tribes in 1975 to coordinate and control the development of the mineral resources on reservation CONTEMPORARY lands. Since its founding, the council has successfully nego- tiated a number of agreements with dominant group firms, NATIVE AMERICAN– increasing the flow of income to the tribes and raising their WHITE RELATIONS quality of life (Cornell, 1988; Snipp, 1989). The council now encompasses more than 50 tribes and several Canadian Conflicts between Native Americans and the larger soci- First Nations (Council of Energy Resource Tribes, n.d.). ety are far from over. Although the days of deadly battle are (with occasional exceptions) long gone, the issues that ATTRACTING INDUSTRY remain are serious, difficult to resolve, and, in their way, TO THE RESERVATION just as much matters of life and death. Native Americans face enormous challenges in their struggle to improve their Many efforts todistribute develop the reservations have focused on status, but, largely because of their greater freedom from creating jobs by attracting industry through such incentives stifling federal control since the 1970s, they also have some as lowor taxes, low rents, and a low-wage pool of labor—not resources, some opportunities, and a leadership that is both unlike the package of benefits offered to employers by talented and resourceful (Bordewich, 1996, p. 11). less-developed nations in Asia, South America, and Africa. With some notable exceptions, these efforts have not been particularly successful (for a review, see Cornell, 2006; NATURAL RESOURCES Vinje, 1996). Reservations are often so geographically iso- Ironically, land allotted to Native American tribespost, in the lated that transportation costs become prohibitive. The 19th century sometimes turned out to be rich in resources jobs that have materialized are typically low wage and have that became valuable in the 20th century. These resources few benefits; usually, non-Indians fill the more lucrative include oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium, basic sources of managerial positions. Thus, the opportunities for build- energy in the larger society. In addition (and despite the ing economic power or improving the standard of living devastation wreaked by the Dawes Act of 1887), some tribes from these jobs are sharply limited. These new jobs may hold title to water rights, fishingcopy, rights, woodlands that transform “the welfare poor into the working poor” (Snipp, could sustain a timber industry, and wilderness areas that 1996, p. 398), but their potential for raising economic vital- could be developed for camping, hunting, and other forms ity is low. of recreation. These resources are likely to become more To illustrate the problems of developing reservations valuable as the earth’snot natural resources and undeveloped by attracting industry, consider the Navajo, the second- areas are further depleted in the future. largest Native American tribe. The Navajo reserva- The challenge Native Americans face is to retain con- tion spreads across Arizona, , and , and trol ofDo these resources and to develop them for their own encompasses about 20 million acres, an area a little smaller benefit. Threats to the remaining tribal lands and assets are than either Indiana or Maine (see Figure 7.2). The reserva- common. Mining and energy companies continue to cast tion seems huge on a map, but much of the land is desert envious eyes on Native American land, and other tribal not suitable for farming or other uses. As they have for the assets are coveted by real-estate developers, fishers (recre- past several centuries, the Navajo today rely heavily on the ational as well as commercial), backpackers and campers, cultivation of corn and sheepherding for sustenance. and cities facing water shortages (Harjo, 1996). Most wage-earning jobs on the reservation are with the Some tribes have succeeded in developing their agencies of the federal government (e.g., the BIA) or with resources for their own benefit, in part because of their the tribal government. Tourism is a large industry, but the increased autonomy and independence since the passage of jobs are typically low wage and seasonal. There are reserves

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 243 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. COMPARATIVE FOCUS

Australian Aborigines and Native Americans

inferiority (Smithers, 2008) and saw “The Stolen Generation.” The stated the Aborigines as “savages.” They goals of child removal laws were to disliked much about them; for exam- protect “neglected” children, teach ple, Aborigines’ use of spears to hunt, them “European values and work bodily adornment, nomadic ways, and habits,” and make them employ- their lack of desire for material wealth able (Commonwealth of Australia, (Buchanan, 2005; Grey, 1841). 1997, p. 2). The contact situation became The government focused on violent—and included massacres, rape, half-caste children it believed could and the forcible removal of indigenous “absorb” into the white population. It people from their land. The Aborigines hoped that, over time, “full-blooded fought back, but lacked British fire power natives” would be “eliminated” (Clements, 2014). Disease, violence, (Commonwealth of Australia, 1997, Wikimedia Commons loss of land, and malnutrition killed 90% p. 24). To ensure they “never saw Bradshaw rock painting in the to 95% of the Aboriginal population their parents or families again” chil- Kimberley region of Western Australia. (Reynolds, 2006, p. 127). Some people dren’s names were changed and they consider it genocide (Clements, 2014). were taken far away (Commonwealth The British pushed the remain- of Australia, 1997, p. 24). Their Each colonization situation has its ing Aborigines into missions, reserves, lives were strictly controlled. For unique history, but similar dynamics and stations (AIATSIS, n.d.). Church- example, their hair was cut and their are at work. To illustrate, we will com- established missions attempted to possessionsdistribute taken. They worked pare the impact of European coloniza- “civilize” Aborigines. The government during the day or went to school. At tion of Australian Aborigines and the created unmanaged reserves where sundown, they were “locked up in indigenous peoples of North America. Aborigines could live as they had prior dormitories” to discourage running Australia came under European to colonization. Eventually the gov- awayor (Commonwealth of Australia, domination in the late 1700s, nearly ernment provided blankets and basic 1997, p. 116). Breaking even minor two centuries after colonization in the food—less out of concern than to keep rules resulted in the “strap” or being United States. Despite the time dif- Aborigines from killing settlers’ cattle in “put into jail” (e.g., solitary confine- ference, the contact situations have “white areas” (AIATSIS, n.d., Peterson, ment) (Commonwealth of Australia, commonalities: (1) Great Britain was 2005). Government-supervised sta- 1997, p. 71). the colonial power, (2) first contact tions provided housing and job train- At the start of the 20th occurred in the preindustrial era, and ing (e.g., as servants)post, (Choo, 2016, century, the Aboriginal population (3) indigenous groups were spread p. 111). However, station conditions was less than 100,000. In 2014, thinly across vast geographical areas, were “appalling” and Aborigines suf- it was 686,800—about 3% of and lacked resources and technolog- fered from malnutrition and poor Australia’s total population. Numbers ical development compared to the health (Berndt & Berndt, 1987, p. xi; have increased, partly because of British (Diamond, 1998). Peterson, 2005). higher birth rates, but also because Aboriginal peoples lived in Between 1905 and 1969, changing attitudes make it easier for Australia 50,000 to 65,000 years the government took approximately people to claim their Aboriginal heri- before the British arrived (Australian copy,100,0001 “half-caste” children from tage. Sixty-two percent of Aboriginal Government, 2015). They were their families by “persuasion and people identified with “a clan, nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived threats” (Commonwealth of Australia, tribal, or language group”; 35% in groups of 30 to 50 people con- 1997, p. 34). Today, they are called live in cities while only 21% live in nected by marriage or kinship and remote areas (Australian Bureau of organized into 500 to 600not nations Statistics, 2014). (Australian Government, 2015; Pettit, 1 The Australian government’s report notes Compared with the general pop- 2015). Aborigines shared a common that it’s hard to estimate a number because ulation, Aborigines have less access to culture, including a belief system many institutions didn’t keep records or health care and higher rates of alco- called “The Dreaming”Do that explained didn’t record children’s family history infor- holism, malnutrition, unemployment, the world and offered a moral frame- mation as Aboriginal. It did “conclude with and suicide. Their life expectancy work (Australian Government, 2015; confidence that between one in three and is 12 years lower and 65% reported Bodley, 2013, p. 41; Pettit, 2015). one in ten Indigenous children were forcibly long-term health conditions. Just Although early relations between removed from their families and communi- 26% had completed 12th grade (up the English and the Aborigines were ties in the period from approximately 1910 from 20% in 2008) and 18% lived in hospitable, competition for land and until 1970. . . . and not one Indigenous overcrowded housing. More than one other resources soon led to conflict family has escaped the effects of forcible third (39%) reported experiencing (Pettit, 2015; Reynolds, 2006, p. 69). removal” (Commonwealth of Australia, discrimination (Australian Bureau of The British equated “blackness” with 1997, p. 3). Statistics, 2014).

244 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. The issues facing the Australian Questions to Consider Aborigines. Why do these Aborigines include the preservation differences exist? 1. Compare and contrast the of their culture and identity, self- 3. What similarities and differences contact situations of Native determination and autonomy, the exist between the experiences Americans and Australian return of stolen lands, and an end to of African Americans and Aborigines. In what ways were discrimination. Their history and their Australian Aborigines? Between both colonized minorities? present situation support the Blauner Australian Aborigines and slaves 2. Compare and contrast the and Noel hypotheses. in Brazil? (See the Chapter 6 contemporary situations of Comparative Focus.) Native Americans and Australian

of coal, uranium, and oil on the reservation, but these only about 67% of household income for all Americans, and resources have not generated many jobs. In some cases, the their per capita income is only 53% of the national norm. Navajo have resisted the damage to the environment that On the other hand, some tribes have managed to would be caused by mines and oil wells because of their achieve relative prosperity by bringing jobs to their people. traditional values and respect for the land. When exploita- The Choctaw Nation of Mississippi, for example, is one tion of these resources has been allowed, the companies of the 10 largest employers in the state. Tribal leaders involved often use highly automated technologies that gen- have been able to attract companies such as McDonald’s erate few jobs (Oswalt & Neely, 1996, pp. 317–351). and Ford Motor Company by promising (and delivering) Figures 7.5 and 7.6 contrast Navajo income, poverty, high-quality labor for relatively low wages. The tribe runs and education with those of the total U.S. population. The a variety of businessdistribute enterprises, including two casinos. poverty rate for the Navajo is more than two and a half times Incomes have risen; unemployment is relatively low; the greater than the national norm, and they are below national tribe orhas built schools, hospitals, and a television station; standards in terms of education, especially in terms of college and it administers numerous other services for its members education. Also, median household income for the Navajo is (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, 2017).

FIGURE 7.5 Poverty Rates and Educational Attainment for the Total Population, American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN), Navajo,post, and Choctaw, 2015 100 Total Population 8 88.8% 90 7 AIAN % 84.8% 84 2. 8 82.7% Navajo 8.6 78.6% 80 copy, 7 Choctaw 70 60not 50 Percentage 40 33.1% Do 5% 6% 27.5% 30 27. 2 23.6% 23. 22.9% 19.1% 7% 20 % 3% 13. 13.7% 11.3% 11. 10.4% 10

0 Percent of Families Percent High Percent With in Poverty School Graduate a College Degree

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2015. 2015 American Community Survey, https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml.

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 245 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. FIGURE 7.6 Median Household Income and FIGURE 7.7 Gaming Revenue From Per Capita Income for the Total Population, All American Indian Gaming Establishments, American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN), 1995–2016 Navajo, and Choctaw, 2015 35

60,000 Total Population AIAN 30 Navajo Choctaw 50,000 25

40,000 20

30,000 15 Revenue in Billions 10

Income in Dollars 20,000

5 10,000 0 0 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 Median Household Per Capita Income Income SOURCE: National Indian Gaming Commission, 2017.

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2015. 2015 American Community Survey, https:// tribes are pursuing this trail of broken treaties and seeking factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml. compensation for the wrongs of the past. For example, in The poverty rate for the Choctaw is about half that for 1972 the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes filed a law- the Navajo (although still higher than the national norm), suit demanding the return ofdistribute 12.5 million acres of land—an and their educational level approaches the national stan- area more than half the size of Maine—and $25 billion in dard for high school education and is much closer to the damages. The tribes argued that this land had been ille- national standard for college education than are those of gally taken from themor more than 150 years earlier. After the Navajo or Native Americans as a whole. Median house- eight years of litigation, the tribes settled for a $25 million hold income for the Choctaw is almost 90% of the national trust fund and 300,000 acres of land. Although far less than norm and more than $10,000 greater than the median their original demand, the award gave the tribes control income for the Navajo. over resources that could be used for economic develop- The Choctaw are not the most affluent tribe, and the ment,post, job creation, upgrading educational programs, and Navajo are far from being the most destitute. They illus- developing other programs that would enhance human and trate the mixture of partial successes and failures that typ- financial capital (Worsnop, 1992, p. 391). ify efforts to bring prosperity to the reservations; together, Virtually every tribe has similar grievances, and if pur- these two cases suggest that attracting industry and jobs to sued successfully, the long-dead treaty relationship between the reservations is a possible—but difficult and uncertain— the Indian nations and the government could be a signifi- strategy for economic development. copy, cant fount of economic and political resources. Of course, It is worth repeating that self-determination, the ability lawsuits require considerable (and expensive) legal exper- of tribes to control development on the reservation, seems tise and years of effort before they bear fruit. Because there to be one of the important keys to success. Tribes such as are no guarantees of success, this avenue has some sharp the Choctaw are, in a sense, developingnot ethnic enclaves (see limitations and risks. Chapter 2) in which they can capitalize on local networks of interpersonal relationships. As with other groups that GAMING AND OTHER have followed this strategy, success in the enclave depends DEVELOPMENT on solidarity and groupDo cohesion, not Americanization and POSSIBILITIES integration (see Cornell, 2006). Another resource for Native Americans is the gambling industry, the development of which was made possible BROKEN TREATIES by federal legislation passed in 1988. There are currently For many tribes, the treaties signed with the federal govern- almost 500 tribally owned gaming establishments (National ment in the 19th century offer another potential resource. Indian Gaming Commission, 2017), and the industry has These treaties were often violated by white settlers, the grown many times over, from almost $5 million in reve- military, state and local governments, the BIA, and other nues in 1995 to over $31 billion in 2016 (National Indian elements and agencies of the dominant group, and many Gaming Commission, 2017). Figure 7.7 charts the growth

246 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. of revenues from gaming on Native American reservations and federal environmental regulations, some reservations from 1995 to 2016. are exploring the possibility of housing nuclear waste and Most operations are relatively small in scale. The 21 other refuse of industrialization—a somewhat ironic and largest Indian casinos—about 5% of all Indian casinos— not altogether attractive use of the remaining Indian lands. generate almost 40% of the total income from gaming, Clearly, the combination of increased autonomy, treaty and the 74 smallest operations—about 17% of all Indian rights, natural resources, and gambling means that Native casinos—account for less than 1% of the income (National Americans today have an opportunity to dramatically raise Indian Gaming Commission, 2011). their standards of living and creatively take control of their The single most profitable Indian gambling operation own destinies. Some tribes have enjoyed enormous bene- is the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, operated by the fits, but for others, these assets remain a potential waiting Pequot tribe. The casino is one of the largest in the world to be actualized. Without denying the success stories or and generates more revenue than the casinos of Atlantic the improvements in recent years, the lives of many Native City. The profits from the casino are used to benefit tribal Americans continue to be limited by poverty and power- members in a variety of ways, including the repurchase lessness, prejudice, and discrimination. We document these of tribal lands, housing assistance, medical benefits, edu- patterns in the next section. cational scholarships, and public services such as a tribal police force (Bordewich, 1996, p. 110). Other tribes have used gambling profits to purchase restaurants and marinas PREJUDICE AND and to finance the development of outlet malls, manufac- DISCRIMINATION turing plants, and a wide variety of other businesses and enterprises (Spilde, 2001). Anti-Indian prejudice has been a part of American soci- The power of gaming to benefit the tribes is suggested ety since firstdistribute contact. Historically, negative feelings such by the information displayed in Table 7.4, which shows as hatred and contempt have been widespread and strong, that on a number of indicators, both gaming and non- particularly during the heat of war, and various stereotypes gaming reservations enjoyed significant improvements in of Indiansor have been common. One stereotype, especially their quality of life in the last decade of the 20th century strong during periods of conflict, depicts Indians as blood- but the gaming reservations improved more rapidly. For thirsty, ferocious, cruel savages capable of any atrocity. The example, all reservations increased their per capita income other image of Native Americans is that of “the noble Red faster than the nation as a whole (+11%), but gaming res- Man,” who lives in complete harmony with nature and sym- ervations improved faster (+36%) than nongaming reserva- bolizes goodwill and pristine simplicity (Bordewich, 1996, tions (+21%). (For a more pessimistic view of thepost, benefits p. 34). Although the first stereotype tended to fade away as of gaming, see Guedel, 2014). hostilities drew to a close, the latter image retains a good Various tribes have sought other ways to capitalize on deal of strength in modern views of Indians found in pop- their freedom from state regulation and taxes. Some have ular culture and among environmentalist and “new age” established small but profitable businesses selling ciga- spiritual organizations. rettes tax free. Also, because they are not subject to state A variety of studies have documented continued copy, stereotyping of Native Americans in the popular press, TABLE 7.4 Various Indicators of textbooks, the media, cartoons, and various other places Improvement on Gaming vs. Nongaming (e.g., see Aleiss, 2005; Bird, 1999; Meek, 2006; Rouse & Reservations, 1990–2000 Hanson, 1991). In the tradition of “the noble Red Man,” not Native Americans are often portrayed as bucks and squaws, UNITED complete with headdresses, bows, tepees, and other such INDICATOR NONGAMING GAMING STATES “generic” Indian artifacts. These simplified portrayals Per capitaDo +21% +36% +11% obliterate the diversity of Native American culture and income lifestyles. Family poverty –7% –12% –1% Native Americans are often referred to in the past Unemployment –2% –5% –1% tense, as if their present situation were of no importance High school –1% +2% –1% or, worse, as if they no longer existed. Many history books graduates continue to begin the study of American history in Europe College +2% +3% +4% or with the “discovery” of America, omitting the millennia graduates of civilization prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonizers. Contemporary portrayals of Native Americans, SOURCE: Taylor and Kalt (2005, p. xi). such as in the movie Dances With Wolves (Costner, 1990),

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 247 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. polls, the rankings of Native Americans have remained stable, at about the same level as Jews and Poles but below African Americans. These shifts may reflect a decline in levels of prejudice, a change from more overt forms to more subtle modern racism, or both. Remember, however, that the samples for the social distance research were col- lege students, for the most part, and the results do not necessarily reflect trends in the general population (see also Hanson & Rouse, 1987; Smith & Dempsey, 1983). Additionally, research is unclear about the sever- ity or extent of discrimination against Native Americans. Certainly, the group’s lower average levels of education limit their opportunities for upward mobility, choice of occupations, and range of income. This is a form of insti- tutional discrimination in the sense that the opportunities to develop human capital are much less available to Native Americans than to much of the rest of the population. In terms of individual discrimination or more overt Fibonacci Blue/Flickr forms of exclusion, there is simply too little evidence to Protest against the Washington Redskins mascot. sustain clear conclusions (Snipp, 1992, p. 363). The situ- ation of Native American women is also underresearched, are more sympathetic but still treat the tribes as part of a but Snipp reports that, likedistribute their counterparts in other bucolic past forever lost, not as peoples with real problems minority groups and the dominant group, they “are sys- in the present. tematically paid less than their male counterparts in similar The persistence of stereotypes and the extent to circumstances” (p. 363).or which they have become enmeshed in modern culture is The very limited evidence available from social dis- illustrated by continuing controversies surrounding the tance scales suggests that overt anti-Indian prejudice has names of athletic teams (e.g., the Washington Redskins, the declined, perhaps in parallel with antiblack prejudice. A Cleveland Indians, and the Atlanta Braves) and the use of great deal of stereotyping remains, however, and demean- Native American mascots, tomahawk “chops,” and other ing, condescending, or negative portrayals of Native practices offensive to many Native Americans (for more, Americanspost, are common throughout the dominant culture. see the Current Debates section for this chapter). Protests Institutional discrimination is a major barrier for Native have been held at athletic events to increase awareness of Americans, who have not had access to opportunities for these derogatory depictions, but as was the case so often education and employment. in the past, the protests have been attacked, ridiculed, or simply ignored. Relatively few studies of anti-Indian copy,prejudice exist within the social science literature. Therefore, it is difficult to fully understand the changes that may have occurred over the past several decades. We do not know whether there has been a shift to more symbolicnot or “modern” forms of anti-Indian racism, as there has been for antiblack preju-

dice, or whether the stereotypes of Native Americans have Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division declined in strengthDo or changed in content. One of the few records of national anti-Indian prej- udice over time is that of social distance scale results (see Table 3.2). When the scales were first administered in 1926, Native Americans were ranked in the middle third of all groups (18th out of 28), at about the same level as south- ern and eastern Europeans and slightly above Mexicans, another colonized group. The ranking of Native Americans Native Americans were the victims of systematic discrimination in a remained stable until 1977, when there was a noticeable rise variety of institutions. in their position relative to other groups. In the most recent

248 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. APPLYING CONCEPTS

In this chapter, we’ve shown some of the diversity with- from chapter information, but others ask you to consider in the Native American population. To test your general ideas that you might have heard about Native Americans knowledge about Native Americans as a group, here is a from popular culture or friends. How well do you think most true/false quiz. You will be able to answer some questions Americans would do on this quiz? Why?

1 Native Americans have their college expenses paid for by their tribes or by the federal government.

2 Pocahontas was an Indian princess.

3 Native Americans scalped their slain enemies.

4 The term powwow is a derogatory, stereotypical term that shouldn’t be used by non-Native people.

5 Native Americans practiced slavery and Native Americans were enslaved much like African Americans.

6 Native Americans use peyote in religious ceremonies.

7 Native Americans are getting rich from casinos. 8 Anyone with an Indian ancestor is automatically a member of that tribe. distribute 9 Native Americans were always considered U.S. citizens. 10 Indian tribes are sovereign nations. or TURN THE PAGE TO FIND OUR ANSWERS.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION post,this material as an overview and as starting points for further research. 6. This section examined a number of issues in Compared with other groups, information about contemporary Indian–white relations. In your opinion, Native Americans is scant. Nonetheless, a relatively clear which of these is most important? Why? picture emerges. The portrait stresses a mixed picture: 7. Thinking about the concepts developed in this text, what improvements for some combined with continued coloniza- is the single most importantcopy, force shaping the situation tion, marginalization, and impoverishment for others. Like of Native Americans over the past century? Why? African Americans, Native Americans can be found at every status and income level in the United States, but Indians 8. Compare and contrast antiblack prejudice with living on reservations continue as one of the most impov- anti-Indian prejudice. How and why are the two erished, marginalized groups in society. Native Americans forms of prejudicenot different? How has that prejudice as a group face ongoing discrimination and exclusion, and influenced forms of discrimination? continue the search for a meaningful course between assim- 9. Was the colonization of America a Native American ilation and pluralism. genocide?Do Explain. ACCULTURATION

Despite more than a century of coercive Americanization, ASSIMILATION AND many tribes have been able to preserve at least a portion PLURALISM of their traditional cultures. For example, many tribal lan- guages continue to be spoken on a daily basis. About 20% In this section, we continue to assess the situation of of Native Americans and Alaska Natives speak a language Native Americans today using the same conceptual other than English at home, about the same percentage as framework used in Chapter 6. Once again, please regard the total population. Figure 7.8 suggests the extent of

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 249 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. answers to APPLYING CONCEPTS

Some answers may vary based on tribe or based on the differing opinions among the five million Native Americans cur- rently living in the United States. If you live in an area near a tribal community or organization, we encourage you to use those resources to learn more about these topics. Otherwise, the Internet and your college or local library may have useful information.

1 False. The “urban legend” that all Native Americans get a free ride to college is not true. Only 19% of Native Americans have a college degree. Some tribes offer scholarships to members and the number of tribal colleges has increased over time. Here’s one funding organization that’s trying to assist with scholarships: http://college fund.org/. 2 False. Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan, the “paramount chief” of a large confederation of tribes in the Tidewater, Virginia area. So, she wasn’t a “princess” (which is a British royal title). She was held in high regard and she may have saved the life of English colonist John Smith, as legend has it. 3 True. Archaeological evidence dating back to pre-Columbian times suggest scalping was practiced, though the type and prevalence varied widely by tribal community and geographic region. Europeans transformed this indigenous practice into a kind of bounty hunting by encouraging native people to scalp Indians who were hostile to European interests. (See Axwell & Sturtevant, 1980.) Evidence of scalping has been found in Asia, Europe, and Mexico, too. 4 True. Powwows are festivals that preserve and celebrate Native American culture and traditions, including sacred ones. Thus, use the phrase “have a powwow” to indicate a chat, meeting, or negotiation would be factually incorrect and, to some, inappropriate, insensitive, or rude. 5 True. Precolonization, some tribes enslaved other Native Americans as war captives who distributecould provide labor (including reproductive labor). However, they were not seen as an inferior race and often became integrated into tribes, for example, through marriage. Rushforth (2012) notes that “indigenous slavery moved captives ‘up and in’ toward full, if forced, assimilation” (p. 66). Some Southern Indian communities ritually adopted enslaved people who acted as a proxy for dead tribal members (Snyder, 2010, p. 103). orFor the Comanche, enslavement practices were strategic—to gain numbers. However, they “never draw a hard line between masters and slaves, and they possessed neither the necessary means to enforce unconditional submission nor a racist ideology to mentally suppress the slave population” (Hämäläinen, 2008, p. 251).

Native enslavement practices changed as the U.S. system of slavery developed. Additionally, they were inter- twined with the Spanish system. The Spanish enslaved the majority of indigenous Americans to supply labor in the West (e.g., gold mining in Mexico) (Lowcountry,post, n.d.). As the British and Spanish systems of slavery developed, it became more lucrative for Native Americans to sell, rather than enslave, other Native Americans. However, widespread enslavement of Native Americans in the U.S. colonies was problematic. As discussed in Chapter 4, many indigenous Americans died due to lack of immunity to European diseases, reducing the potential labor pool. Additionally, indigenous Americans could escape more easily than African slaves because they possessed knowledge of the area and could often get help from other indigenous people (Lowcountry, n.d.). Because of this “flight risk,” slave traders often took them to Brazil to be sold there. As the U.S. sys- tem of slavery developed, some tribes, especially in the Southeast, began to enslave Africans (Snyder, 2010) while others offered sanctuary to copy,runaway African slaves. For example, researchers estimate that thousands of “Maroons” lived with Native Americans in the Great Dismal Swamp (Sayers, Burke, & Henry, 2007). In short, Native Americans did enslave other Native Americans and, at times, some African slaves. However, it was quite different from the chattel-oriented slave system developed in the United States (also see Madley, 2016; Reséndez, 2016, Trueur,not 2012). 6 True. For example, the Native American Church uses peyote as part of its rituals, as explained later in this chapter. 7 False. WhileDo some tribes earn a lot of money from casinos, many do not. See the relevant sections of this chapter. 8 False. Tribes have specific rules about membership eligibility, and an Indian ancestor is no guarantee of acceptance. 9 False. Not all Native Americans were covered by the Fourteenth Amendment granting citizenship to persons “born or naturalized in the United States.” The of 1924 granted citizenship; however, it didn’t automatically give all rights to Native peoples. As with African Americans, some states refused to give Native Americans the right to vote. 10 False. Tribes do, however, have considerable autonomy and the power to govern their own affairs under a variety of laws.

250 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. NARRATIVE PORTRAIT

An Indian View of White Civilization

Who’s the savage? One stereotype There is power in a buffalo—spiritual, face, being numbed by an icy wind of Native Americans portrays them magic power—but there is no power in and thawing out before a smoking as “cruel, barbaric, and savage.” an Angus, in a Hereford. fire, coming out of a hot sweat bath Is it possible, however, that Native There is power in an antelope, but and plunging into a cold stream, Americans are more advanced than not in a goat or a sheep, which holds these things make you feel alive, but the dazzling sophisticates of urban still while you butcher it, which will eat you don’t want them anymore. Living America? In a 1972 interview, John your newspaper if you let it. There was in boxes that shut out the heat of the Lame Deer, a Sioux, gives his view great power in a wolf, even in a . summer and the chill of winter, liv- of the technologically advanced soci- You made him into a freak—a toy poo- ing inside a body that no longer has ety that surrounds him. Through his dle, a Pekinese, a lap dog. You can’t a scent, hearing the noise of the hi-fi words, we can hear the voices of the do much with a cat, which is like an rather than listening to the sounds of Indian cultures that have survived. Indian, unchangeable. So you fix it, alter nature, watching some actor on TV it, declaw it, even cut its vocal cords so have a make-believe experience when you can experiment on it in a laboratory you no longer experience anything for LISTENING TO THE AIR without being disturbed by its cries. . . . yourself, eating food without taste— You have not only altered, that’s your way. It’s no good. John Lame Deer declawed, and malformed your SOURCE: Reprinted with the permission of Simon You have made it hard for us to experi- winged and four-legged cousins; you & Schuster Adult Publisher Group from Lame Deer, ence nature in the good way by being have done it to yourselves. You have Seeker of Vision by John (Fire) Lame Deer and part of it. Even here [a Sioux reser- changed men into chairmen of boards, Richard Erdoes. Copyright © 1972 by John (Fire) distributeLame Deer and Richard Erdoes. Copyright renewed vation in South Dakota] we are con- into office workers, into time-clock © 2001 Richard Erdoes. All rights reserved. scious that somewhere out in those punchers. You have changed women hills there are missile silos and radar into housewives, truly fearful crea- Questions to Consider stations. White men always pick the tures. . . . You live in prisonsor which few unspoiled, beautiful, awesome you have built for yourselves, calling 1. Does Lame Deer’s critique of spots for these abominations. You have them “homes,” offices, factories. mainstream American culture raped and violated these lands, always We have a new joke on the reserva- ring true? If you were in a debate saying, “gimme, gimme, gimme,” and tions: “What is cultural deprivation?” with him, could you refute his never giving anything back. . . . You Answer: “Being an upper-middle-class points? have not only despoiled the earth, the white kid living in a split-level subur- 2. How does this passage support rocks, the minerals, all of which you ban homepost, with a color TV .”. . . the idea that Native American call “dead” but which are very much I think white people are so afraid culture has survived coercive alive; you have even changed the ani- of the world they created that they acculturation and military mals, . . . changed them in a horrible don’t want to see, feel, smell, or hear conquest? Is there a future for way, so no one can recognize them. it. The feeling of rain or snow on your the ideas Lame Deer expresses? copy, language preservation. For many tribes, less than 10% of have instituted programs to try to renew and preserve their their members speak the tribal language at home. Some language, along with other elements of their culture, but tribes, however, continue to speak their native language, the success of these efforts is uncertain (Schmid, 2001, including about 30%not of Apache and almost half of Navajo. p. 25; see also D. Treuer, 2012, pp. 300–305). While some Native American languages have survived, Traditional culture is retained in other forms besides it seems that even the most widely spoken of these languages language. Religions and value systems, political and eco- is endangered.Do One study (Krauss, 1996) estimates that only nomic structures, and recreational patterns have all survived about 11% of the surviving 200 languages spoken are being the military conquest and the depredations of reservation taught by parents to their children in the traditional way life, but each pattern has been altered by contact with the and that most languages are spoken on a daily basis only by dominant group. Cornell (1987), for example, argues that the older generation. Few, if any, people are left who speak the strong orientation to the group rather than the individ- only a tribal language. One authority (A. Treuer, 2012, p. 80) ual is being significantly affected by the “American dream” reports that only 20 tribal languages in the United States of personal material success. and Canada are spoken by children in significant numbers. The tendency to filter the impact of the larger society If these patterns persist, Native Americans languages will through continuing vital Native American culture is also disappear as the generations change. A number of tribes illustrated by the Native American Church. The Native

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 251 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. FIGURE 7.8 Percentage of Total Population, Narrative Portrait in this chapter illustrates the persistence of All American Indians and Alaska Natives a distinct Indian culture and point of view. (AIAN), and Selected Tribes That Speak a The vitality of Indian cultures may have increased in Language Other Than English at Home, 2015 the current atmosphere of greater tolerance and support for pluralism in the larger society, combined with increased 60 autonomy and lower government regulation on the reserva- 50 47.4% tions. However, a number of social forces are working against pluralism and the continuing survival of tribal cultures. Pan- 40 tribalism may threaten the integrity of individual tribal cul- 30.8% 30 tures as it represents Native American grievances and concerns 21.2% 21%

Percentage to the larger society. Opportunities for jobs, education, and 20 15.3% higher incomes draw Native Americans to more developed 10 6.4% urban areas and will continue to do so as long as the reserva- 2% tions are underdeveloped. Many aspects of the tribal cultures 0 t can be fully expressed and practiced only with other tribal AIAN Navajo Lumbee Iroquois Apache members on the reservations. Thus, many Native Americans Blackfee must make a choice between “Indian-ness” on the reservation Total Population and “success” in the city. The younger, more educated Native

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2017. American Community Survey, 2015. Americans will be most likely to confront this choice, and the future vitality of traditional Native American cultures and lan- guages will hinge on which option they choose. American Church is an important Native American reli- distribute gion, with more than 100 congregations across the nation. SECONDARY STRUCTURAL This religion combines elements from both cultures, ASSIMILATION and church services freely mix Christian imagery and the or Bible with attempts to seek personal visions by using peyote, a This section assesses the degree of integration of Native hallucinogenic drug. The latter practice is consistent with the Americans into the various institutions of public life, follow- spiritual and religious traditions of many tribes but clashes ing the general outlines of the parallel section in Chapter 6. sharply with the laws and norms of the larger society. The difference in traditions has generated many skirmishes with Residential Patterns. Since the of the courts, and as recently as 2004, the right of the Native 1830post, (see Chapter 4), Native Americans have been concen- American Church to use peyote was upheld by the Supreme trated in the western two thirds of the nation, as illustrated Court of Utah (“Utah Supreme Court Rules,” 2004). in Figure 7.9, although some pockets of population still Native Americans have been more successful than can be found in the East. The states with the largest con- African Americans in preserving their traditional cultures, centrations of Native Americans—, Oklahoma, a pattern that is partly explained by the differences in the and Arizona—together include about 30% of all Native relationship between each minority group copy,and the domi- Americans. As Figure 7.9 illustrates, most U.S. counties nant group. African Americans were exploited for labor, have few Native American residents. The population is whereas the competition with Native Americans involved concentrated in eastern Oklahoma, the upper Midwest, and land. African cultures could not easily survive because the the Southwest (Norris et al., 2012, p. 8). social structures that transmittednot the cultures and gave Because Native Americans are such a small, rural them meaning were largely destroyed by slavery and sacri- group, it is difficult to assess the overall level of residential ficed to the exigencies of the plantation economy. segregation. An earlier study using 2000 Census data found In contrast, NativeDo Americans confronted the dominant that they were less segregated than African Americans and group as tribal units, intact and whole. The tribes maintained that the levels of residential segregation had declined since integrity throughout the wars and throughout the reservation 1980 (Iceland, Weinberg, & Steinmetz, 2002, p. 23). More period. Tribal culture was attacked and denigrated during the detailed data from the 2000 Census for the 10 metropol- reservation era, but the basic social unit that sustained the itan areas with the highest numbers of Native American culture survived, albeit in altered form. The fact that Native residents shows that residential segregation was “extremely Americans were placed on separate reservations, isolated from high” (dissimilarity index at or above 60) in four of the cities one another and the “contaminating” effects of everyday con- (New York, Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Chicago) but lower tact with the larger society, also supported the preservation of than the levels of black–white segregation. Also, a couple traditional languages and culture (Cornell, 1990). The second of the cities (Oklahoma City and Tulsa) had low scores, or

252 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. FIGURE 7.9 Percentage of County Population Choosing Native American or Alaska Native, Alone or in Combination, 2010

WA MT N T ME OR MN NH I S WI N MA W MI RI T IA A N N NE OH T IL IN E O M A MO W A KS K N OK TN A 40% to 97% NM AR S 8% to 39.9% AL GA 3% to 7.9% LA MS HI T 1.5% to 2.9% AK L Less than 1.5% American Indian/ Alaska Native areas Percent of Total U.S. Population 1.7%

SOURCE: Norris, Vines, and Hoeffel, 2012. distribute a dissimilarity index at or below 30 (Social Science Data sensitive to the educational and cultural needs of the group, Analysis Network, n.d.). and tribal college graduates who transfer to four-year col- What can we conclude? It seems that residential seg- leges orare more likely to graduate than are other Native regation for Native Americans is lower than it is for African American students (Pego, 1998; see also His Horse Is Americans. However, it is difficult to come to firm conclu- Thunder, Anderson, & Miller, 2013). sions because of the small size of the group and the fact that An earlier study found that Native American school 30% of Native Americans live on rural reservations, where children were less segregated than African American school the levels of isolation and racial segregation are quitepost, high. children in the 2005–2006 school year, but that the levels of racial isolation might be increasing (Fry, 2007). Again, it School Integration and Educational Attainment. As a is difficult to assess trends because of the small size of the result of the combined efforts of missionaries and federal group and their concentration in rural areas. agencies, Native Americans have had a long but not nec- essarily productive acquaintance with Western education. Political Power. The ability of Native Americans to exert Until the past few decades, schools for Native Americans power as a voting bloc or otherwise directly affect the were primarily focused on Americanizingcopy, children, not so political structure is limited by group size; they are a tiny much on educating them. percentage of the electorate. Furthermore, their political For many tribes, the percentage of high school power is limited by their lower than average levels of educa- graduates has increasednot in the recent past, but Native tion, language differences, lack of economic resources, and Americans’ graduation rates as a whole are still somewhat fractional differences within and between tribes and reser- below national rates and the rates of non-Hispanic whites, vations. The number of Native Americans holding elected as shown in Figure 7.10. The differences in schooling are office is minuscule, far less than 1% (Pollard & O’Hare, especiallyDo important because the lower levels of educa- 1999). In 1992, however, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, of tional attainment limit mobility and job opportunities in , a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, was the postindustrial job market. elected to the U.S. Senate and served until 2005. One positive development for the education of Native Americans is the rapid increase in tribally controlled col- Jobs and Income. Some of the most severe challenges leges. There are now 37 tribal colleges: All offer two-year facing Native Americans relate to work and income. The degrees, six offer four-year degrees, and two offer master’s problems are especially evident on the reservations, where degrees. These institutions are located on or near reserva- jobs traditionally have been scarce and affluence rare. As tions; some have been constructed with funds generated mentioned previously, the overall unemployment rate for in the gaming industry. They are designed to be more all Native Americans is about double the rate for whites.

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 253 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. FIGURE 7.10 Educational Attainment for Non-Hispanic Whites, All American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN), and Select Tribes, 2015

100 92.3% 8989.8%.8% Percent high school or more Percent college or more 90 85.3%85 3% 82.7%82.7% 79.3%79.3% 778.6%8.6% 80 76%

70

60

50

Percentage 40 334.2%4.2% 30 22.8%22.8% 19.1%19.1% 20 18.1%18.1% 16.1616.3%3% 1010.8%.8% 11.9% 10

0 e t N

Navajo Iroquois All AIAN Lumbee Apache Blackfeet distribute Non-Hispanic Whit

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2017. American Community Survey, 2015. or Figure 7.11 shows median household income in 2015 For Indians living on or near reservations, however, the for non-Hispanic whites, all Native Americans and Alaska rate is much higher, sometimes rising to 70% to 80% Natives, and five of the larger tribes. Median household on the smaller, more-isolated reservations (U.S. Census income for Native Americans and Alaska Natives is about Bureau, 2010). 68% of that of non-Hispanic whites. There is a good deal of Nationally, Native Americans are underrepresented in variabilitypost, among the tribes, but again, none approach the the higher-status, more lucrative professions and overrep- incomes of non-Hispanic whites. resented in unskilled labor and service jobs (U.S. Census These income statistics reflect lower levels of education Bureau, 2010). Like African Americans, Native Americans as well as the interlocking forces of past discrimination and who hold white-collar jobs are more likely than whites to lack of development on many reservations. The rural isolation work in lower-income occupations, such as typist or retail of much of the population and their distance from the more salesperson (Ogunwole, 2006, p. 10). copy, urbanized centers of economic growth limit possibilities for improvement and raise the likelihood that many reservations will remain the rural counterparts to urban underclass ghettos. Figure 7.12 supplements the information in not Figure 7.11 by displaying the distribution of income for all Native Americans and Alaska Natives (AIAN) compared with non-Hispanic whites. This type of graph was introduced in Do Chapter 6, which covered African Americans, and its format is similar to the format of Figure 6.13. In both graphs, the pattern of income inequality is immediately obvious. Starting at the bottom, we see that Native Americans and Alaska Natives are overrepresented in the lowest income groups, as were African Americans. For example, over 13% of Native Americans and Stephan Gladieu/Getty Images News/Getty Alaska Natives have incomes less than $10,000—this is more Housing on reservations for Native Americans is often substandard. than double the percentage for whites (5.6%) in this range. This dilapidated trailer is home for a family of Cheyenne Indians on the Moving up the figure through the lower- and Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota. middle-income brackets, we see that Native American

254 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. FIGURE 7.11 Median Household Income for Non-Hispanic Whites, All American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN), and Selected Tribes, 2015

70,000 $61,364 60,000

50,000 $44,408 $41,940 $39,314 40,000 $35,490 $36,827 $31,011 30,000

20,000

10,000 Median Household Income in Dollars

0

Sioux AIAN Navajo Choctaw Chippewa Cherokee

Non-Hispanic Whites

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2017. American Community Survey, 2015. distribute and Alaska Native households continue to be overrep- figure for non-Hispanic whites is more than $22,000 resented. There is a notable clustering of both groups higheror than that of American Indians and Alaska Natives. in the $50,000 to $100,000 categories, but it is whites Finally, Figure 7.13 shows the poverty levels for who are overrepresented at these higher-income lev- non-Hispanic whites, all Native Americans and Alaska els. The income differences are especially obvious Natives, and five of the larger tribes. The poverty rate for all at the top of the figure. For example, almost 12% of Native American and Alaska Native families is almost triple non-Hispanic white households are in the two high- the rate for non-Hispanic whites, and three of these tribes est income categories, compared with onlypost, 4.2% have an even higher percentage of families living in poverty. 6 of AIAN households. Figure 7.12 also shows the The poverty rates for children show a similar pattern, with median household incomes for the two groups: The very high rates for the Lumbee, Navajo, and Blackfeet. As a

FIGURE 7.12 Distribution of Household Income for Non-Hispanic Whites and American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN),copy, 2015 Non-Hispanic Whites Income Categories American Indians and Alaska Natives

$200,000 and more $150,000 to $199,999 not $125,000 to $149,999 $100,000 to $124,999 $75,000 to $99,999 $60,000 to $74,999 $50,000 to $59,999 Do $45,000 to $49,999 $40,000 to $44,999 $35,000 to $39,999 $30,000 to $34,999 Median = $59,542 Median = $37,408 $25,000 to $29,999 $20,000 to $24,999 $15,000 to $19,999 $10,000 to $14,999 Under $10,000

15 10 5 0 0 510 15 Percentage of Households Percentage of Households

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013g.

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 255 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. FIGURE 7.13 Families and Children in Poverty for Non-Hispanic Whites, All American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN), and Selected Tribes, 2015

40 Percent families in poverty Percent children in poverty 34.7% 35 34.2%

30% 30 28.4% 28.3% 26.7%

25

19.9% 20.5% 20 18.8% 18.3% 16.7%

15

Percentage in Poverty 13.6% 12.5%

10 6.6%

5

0 distribute Creek Navajo Iroquois All AIAN Lumbee orBlackfeet

Non-Hispanic Whites

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013f.

NOTE: Family and child poverty rates are computed using different units of analysis. Family rates represent the percentage of all families in the group that are below the poverty line while the rates for children are the percentage of all people younger than 18 in the group who live in poverty. whole, this information on income and poverty shows that partnerspost, outside the group (Snipp, 1989, pp. 156–159). Also, despite the progress Native Americans have made over the the social and legal barriers to Indian-white intermarriages past several decades, a sizable socioeconomic gap persists. have been comparatively weak (Qian & Lichter, 2011).

PRIMARY STRUCTURAL QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION ASSIMILATION copy, 10. This section examined a variety of dimensions of Rates of out-marriage for Native Americans are quite high acculturation and integration for Native Americans. compared with other groups, as displayed in Table 7.5. Which is most important? Why? While the overwhelming majority of whites were married to 11. In which of these areas has there been the most other whites in both years, a littlenot more than 40% of Native progress over the past 50 years? Explain? Americans had marriage partners within the group. This pat- tern is partly the result of the small size of the group. As less TABLE 7.5 Percentage Married to a Person than 1% of the total Dopopulation, Native Americans are numer- of the Same Race, 1980 and 2008 ically unlikely to find dating and marriage partners within their own group, especially in those regions of the country and WHITES NATIVE AMERICANS urban areas where the group is small in size. For example, an YEAR Men Women Men Women earlier study found that in New England, which has the lowest 1980 96% 95% 41% 43% relative percentage of Native Americans of any region, more 2008 93% 92% 43% 42% than 90% of Indian marriages were to partners outside the group. But even in the mountain states, which have a greater number of Native Americans who are also highly concentrated SOURCE: Qian, Zhenchao, and Lichter, Daniel. “Changing Patterns of Interracial Marriage in a Mulitracial Society.” Journal of Marriage and Family, 75:1065–1084. on reservations, only about 40% of Indian marriages involved Copyright © 2011 National Council on Family Relations. Reprinted with permission.

256 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. COMPARING and different goals in mind. They always have been more oriented toward a pluralistic relationship with the larger MINORITY GROUPS society and preserving what they could of their autonomy, their institutions, and their heritage. African Americans Comparing the experiences of Native Americans with those spent much of the 20th century struggling for inclusion of other groups will further our understanding of the com- and equality; Native Americans were fighting to maintain plexities of dominant–minority relationships and permit us or recover their traditional cultures and social structures. to test the explanatory power of the concepts and theories This difference in goals reflects the different histories of that are central to this text. No two minority groups have the two groups and the different circumstances surround- had the same experiences, and our concepts and theories ing their colonization. should help us understand the differences and the similar- ities. We will make it a point to compare groups in each of the chapters in this part of the text. We begin by comparing PROGRESS AND Native Americans with African Americans. First, note the differences in the stereotypes attached CHALLENGES to the two groups during the early years of European colo- What does the future hold for Native Americans? Their nization. While Indians were seen as cruel savages, African situation has certainly changed over the past 100 years, Americans under slavery were seen as lazy, irresponsible, but is it “better” or just “different,” as is the case for large and in constant need of supervision. The two stereotypes segments of the African American community? As the are consistent with the outcomes of the contact period. The group grows in size and improves its status, the answer supposed irresponsibility of blacks under slavery helped seems to be a little of both. To reach some conclusions, justify their subordinate, highly controlled status, and the we will look at several aspects of the situation of Native alleged savagery of Native Americans helped justify their distribute Americans and assess the usefulness of our theoretical near extermination by white society. models and concepts. Second, both Native Americans and African Americans Sinceor the 1960s, the decline of intolerance in soci- were colonized minority groups, but their contact situa- ety, the growth of pride in ancestry in many groups (e.g., tions were governed by very different dynamics (competi- Black Power), and the shift in federal government policy to tion for labor vs. land) and a very different dominant group encourage self-determination have all helped spark a reaf- agenda (the capture and control of a large, powerless work- firmation of commitment to tribal cultures and traditions. force vs. the elimination of a military threat). These dif- Like the Black Power Movement, the Red Power Movement fering contact situations shaped subsequent relationshipspost, asserted a distinct and positive Indian identity, a claim for with the dominant group and the place of the groups in the validity of Native American cultures within the broad the larger society. framework of the larger society. During the same period, For example, consider the situations of the two groups the favorable settlements of treaty claims, the growth in a century ago. At that time, the most visible enemy for job opportunities, and the growth of the gambling industry African Americans was de jure segregation, the elaborate have enhanced the flow of resources and benefits to some system of repression in the copy,South that controlled them reservations. In popular culture, Native Americans have politically, economically, and socially (see Chapters 5 and 6). enjoyed a strong upsurge of popularity and sympathetic In particular, the southern system of agriculture needed the depictions. This enhanced popularity accounts for much of black population—but only as a powerless, cheap work- the growth in population size as people of mixed ancestry force. The goals ofnot African Americans centered on assimila- resurrect and reconstruct their Indian ancestors and their tion, equality, and dismantling this oppressive system. own ethnic identities. Native Americans, in contrast, were not viewed as a Linear or simplistic views of assimilation do not fit sourceDo of labor and, after their military defeat, were far too the current situation or the past experiences of Native few in number and too dispersed geographically to consti- Americans very well. Some Native Americans are intermar- tute a political threat. Thus, there was little need to control rying with whites and integrating into the larger society; them in the same way African Americans were controlled. others strive to retain a tribal culture in the midst of an The primary enemies of the tribes were the reservation sys- urbanized, industrialized society; still others labor to use tem, various agencies of the federal government (especially the profits from gaming and other enterprises for the ben- the BIA), rural isolation, and the continuing attacks on their efit of the tribe as a whole. Members of the group can be traditional cultures and lifestyles, which are typical for a found at every degree of acculturation and integration, and colonized minority group. Native Americans had a differ- the group seems to be moving toward assimilation in some ent set of problems, different resources at their disposal, ways and away from it in others.

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 257 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. From the standpoint of the Noel and Blauner hypoth- capital (primarily education) may offer the most compelling eses, we can see that Native Americans have struggled with direction for future development. conquest and colonization, experiences made more difficult Urban Indians confront the same patterns of discrim- by the loss of so much of their land and other resources and ination and racism that confront other minority groups of by the concerted, unrelenting attacks on their culture and color. Members of the group with lower levels of educa- language. The legacy of conquest and colonization was poor tion and job skills face the prospects of becoming part of health and housing, an inadequate and misdirected edu- a permanent urban underclass. More educated and more cation system, and slow (or nonexistent) economic devel- skilled Native Americans share with African Americans the opment. For most of the 20th century, Native Americans prospect of a middle-class lifestyle that is more partial and were left to survive as best they could on the margins of the tenuous than that of comparable segments of the dominant larger society, too powerless to establish meaningful plural- group. ism and too colonized to pursue equality. The situation of Native Americans today is vastly Today, one key to further progress for some members superior to the status of the group a century ago, and this of this group is economic development on reservation lands chapter has documented the notable improvements that and the further strengthening of the tribes as functioning have occurred since 1990. Given the depressed and desper- social units. Some tribes do have assets—natural resources, ate conditions of the reservations in the early 20th century, treaty rights, and the gambling industry—that could fuel however, it would not take much to show an improvement. development. However, they often do not have the expertise Native Americans are growing rapidly in numbers and are or the capital to finance the exploitation of these resources. increasingly diversified by residence, education, and degree They must rely, in whole or in part, on non-Indian exper- of assimilation. Some tribes have made dramatic progress tise and white-owned companies and businesses. Thus, over the past several decades, but enormous problems non-Indians, rather than the tribes, may be the primary remain, both on and off the reservations. The challenge for beneficiaries of some forms of development (this would, the future, as it was in the past,distribute is to find a course between of course, be quite consistent with American history). For pluralism and assimilation, pan-tribalism and traditional those reservations for which gambling is not an option and lifestyles that will balanceor the issues of quality of life against for those without natural resources, investments in human the importance of retaining an Indian identity.

SUMMARY

This summary is organized around the Learning Objectives post,government, especially the changes in laws and listed at the beginning of this chapter. policies and their effects, and the dynamics of Indian resistance and protest. 7.1 Explain the changing population characteristics and common cultural characteristics of Native After the end of armed hostilities, relations between Americans and Alaska Natives. Native Americans and the larger society were Although they remain a tiny numerical minoritycopy, of the paternalistic and featured coercive acculturation. At population (about 1%), Native American and Alaska the beginning of the 20th century, Native Americans Native populations are growing rapidly and, according faced the paternalistic reservation system, poverty and to the 2010 Census, more than five million people now powerlessness, rural isolation and marginalization, claim at least partial Native Americannot or Alaska Native and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Native Americans ancestry. The increase reflects, in part, the social nature continued to lose land and other resources. Some of race and the changing definitions used in the census. landmark legislation and federal policies included Traditional Indian cultures were numerous and variable. the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), termination, As is typical for societiesDo at the hunting-and-gathering relocation, and, beginning in the 1970s, increasing level of development, they commonly stressed strong self-determination. There have been organized protest group ties, cooperation with others, and egalitarian movements since early in the 20th century, including relations. a Red Power Movement. Native American protests achieved some successes and were partly assimilationist, 7.2 Summarize and explain the changing relationships even though they pursued some pluralistic goals and between Native Americans and the federal greater autonomy for the tribes.

258 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. 7.3 Understand the most critical issues and trends a. acculturation, that have influenced relations between Native b. secondary structural assimilation, and Americans and the larger society in recent c. primary structural assimilation. decades, including a. Native Americans have been able to retain a. struggles over natural resources, more of their culture than have African b. attempts to bring jobs to reservations, Americans, and the tribal languages are still c. broken treaties, spoken on some reservations. However, the d. gaming, and forces of pan-tribalism and especially the e. prejudice and discrimination. attractions of education and jobs in the larger society seem to be working against the survival As a group, Native Americans and Alaska Natives have of traditional cultures. experienced some improvements in quality of life, b. Despite recent improvements, the overall especially since the 1970s, but the progress has been secondary structural assimilation of Native uneven and enormous challenges remain. Americans remains low. Inequalities persist in schooling, jobs, income, unemployment, and a. Some tribes and reservations have access to poverty levels. valuable natural resources, including oil, coal, c. In terms of primary structural assimilation, clean water, and timber, which have sometimes intermarriages are high compared with other been used to improve their situation. groups, largely as a function of the small size of b. Some tribes (e.g., the Choctaw Nation of the group. Mississippi) have been able to attract industry, distribute but many reservations are too remote and 7.5 Assess the overall situation of Native Americans inaccessible to be viable sites for development today based on the concepts and information and good jobs. orpresented in this chapter. c. The legacy of broken treaties may provide the The situation of Native Americans today is shaped by basis for successful lawsuits and give some their origin as a colonized minority group, their history tribes resources and opportunities. of competition with the dominant group for control of d. The gaming industry has benefited some tribes land, and their recent history on the reservations. Today, and has the potential to benefit others. the group faces an array of problems similar to those e. Prejudice and discrimination remain potentpost, faced by all American colonized minority groups of color, forces limiting the opportunities for Native as they try to find ways to raise their quality of life and Americans and Alaska Natives. There is some continue their commitment to their tribes and to an indication that anti-Indian prejudice has Indian identity. shifted to more “modern” forms. Institutional discrimination and access to education and With the recent increase in self-determination and the employment remaincopy, major problems confronting development of resources on some reservations, the Native Americans. situation of some members of the group and some tribes is improved, but many others are far from equality. What 7.4 Analyze the contemporary relations between evidence of improvements is presented in this chapter? Native Americansnot and whites using the concepts What evidence of continuing inequality is presented? How of prejudice, discrimination, assimilation, and does this group compare with African Americans? What Dopluralism, especially in terms of important similarities and differences can you identify?

KEY TERMS

Bureau of Indian Dawes Allotment Indian Reorganization termination 237 Affairs 234 Act of 1887 234 Act 237 two-spirit 231

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 259 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What were the most important cultural differences differences have for the development of each group’s between Native American tribes and the dominant situation after the initial contact? society? How did these affect relations between the 6. Characterize the present situation of Native two groups? Americans in terms of acculturation and integration. 2. Compare and contrast the effects of paternalism and How do they compare with African Americans? What coercive acculturation on Native Americans after factors in the experiences of the two groups might the end of the contact period with the effects on help explain contemporary differences? African Americans under slavery. What similarities 7. What gender differences can you identify in the and differences existed in the two situations? Which experiences of Native Americans? How do these system was more oppressive and controlling? How? compare with the gender differences in the How did these different situations shape the futures experiences of African Americans? of the groups? 8. Given the information and ideas presented in 3. How did federal Indian policy change over the course this chapter, speculate about the future of Native of the 20th century? What effects did these changes Americans. How likely are Native American cultures have on the tribes? Which were more beneficial? and languages to survive? What are the prospects for Why? What was the role of the Indian protest achieving equality? movement in shaping these policies? 9. Given their small size and marginal status, 4. What options do Native Americans have for improving recognition of their situations and problems continues their position in the larger society and developing distribute to be a central struggle for Native Americans. What their reservations? Which strategies seem to have the are some ways the group can build a more realistic, most promise? Which seem less effective? Why? informed, and orempathetic relationship with the 5. Compare and contrast the contact situations of larger society, the federal government, and other Native Americans, African Americans, and Australian authorities? Are there lessons in the experiences Aborigines. What are the most crucial differences of other groups or in the various protest strategies in their situations? What implications did these followed in the Red Power Movement? post, STUDENT STUDY SITE

Sharpen your skills with SAGE edge at edge.sagepub.com/healey8ecopy, SAGE edge for students provides a personalized approach to help you accomplish your coursework goals in an easy-to-use learning environment. The following resources are availablenot at SAGE edge: Current Debates: Are Indian Sports Team Mascots Offensive? What messages are conveyed by team names such as the Indians, Braves, and, especially, Redskins? Are these mascots offensive? Do they Doperpetuate stereotypes and negative views of Native Americans? Or are they harmless tributes to virtues such as bravery and honor? On our website you will find an overview of the topic, the clashing points of view, and some questions to consider as you analyze the material.

Public Sociology Assignments Public Sociology Assignments provide opportunities for students to address directly and personally some of the issues raised in this text.

260 PART III • Understanding Dominant–Minority Relations in the United States Today Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. There are two assignments for Part III on our website. The first looks at patterns of self-segregation in school cafeterias, and, in the second, students analyze the portrayal of the American family on television in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other sociologically relevant characteristics.

Contributed by Linda M. Waldron

Internet Research Project For this Internet Research Project, you will use data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau to assess the situation of all Native Americans and a tribe of your choosing. You will add this information to the data you gathered previously on African Americans and the general population. You will also search the Internet for additional information on the specific tribe you selected. The project will be guided by a series of questions related to course concepts, and your instructor may ask you to discuss your findings in small groups.

For Further Reading Please see our website for an annotated list of important works related to this chapter.

CHAPTER-OPENING TIMELINE PHOTO CREDITS

1838: Picture History/Newscom 1890: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 1851: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 1978: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 1876: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 2005: Wikipedia distribute 1886: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 2012: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 1887: Wikimedia Commons or

post,

copy, not Do

CHAPTER 7 • Native Americans 261 Copyright ©2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher.